"Pray it away or ignore it completely"

Also: Why there's a hesitancy to get young kids vaxxed [View in browser](    [❤️]( June 21, 2022 Hi CommonHealth reader, Finally, it’s the little ones’ turn! I'm talking about COVID-19 vaccines, as you may have guessed. Federal regulators have given their blessing to both the Moderna and Pfizer options for kids over 6 months and under 5 years. This comes more than seven months after 5- to 11-year-olds got access to their shots. And it’s over a year and half since adults started lining up. In Massachusetts, there are approximately 320,000 more children now eligible. For those families heading out to get the jab, [I have all the nuts and bolts]( [here]( where, when, which vaccine to pick and what to do if your kid is on the cusp of turning 5. But the reality is this: a whole lot of these kiddos won’t be getting a COVID vaccine any time soon. “We saw that the number of parents who were concerned or hesitant was a little bit higher in the 5 to 11 [age group] than it was with the teenagers. And we expect it will definitely be a bit higher in the younger age group,” Lloyd Fisher, president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told me. [A Kaiser Family Foundation survey]( found that, nationally, only 18% of parents and guardians with children under 5 say they will “get them vaccinated right away” and 27% say they will “definitely not” get them vaccinated. But do we expect the same trend to hold true locally? Let's look back at the vaccination numbers for other groups so far. The latest state data shows 95% of adults 30 and older have gotten at least one dose. But then the numbers start dropping.  5-11 years 12-15 years 16-19 years 20-29 years Individuals with at least one dose 58% 87% 85% 91% Massachusetts data from June 16, 2022. For the 5- to 11-year-olds, Middlesex County — home to Lowell, Cambridge, Newton, Framingham and elsewhere — has the highest rate at 73% of kids getting one dose. Bristol County, bordering Rhode Island and home to Fall River and Taunton, comes in at the bottom of the pack with just 34%. So, overall, when looking at the data for Massachusetts, Fisher’s observation holds up. Chloe Campbell, the medical director at Pediatric Associates of Greater Salem and Beverly, told me she’s been shocked by the number of parents with kids under 5 who aren’t aware of this latest authorization process and rollout. "I really think that people are tuning out. I think people are they're just tired,” she said. "So, it is up to us." Her hope is that as this week unfolds — and shots are delivered — it generates enough buzz that parents know they can vaccinate their little kids. P.S.— My colleague, Martha Bebinger, recently shared some beautiful and powerful reporting out of Brockton. It's one of those rare stories that I decided to print out and read with a warm drink and no distractions. I promise, it is worth the time. Gabrielle Emanuel Health reporter [Follow]( Support the news  This Week's Must Reads [With ‘fentanyl everywhere’ and Black deaths soaring, advocates in Brockton test ways to save lives]( Armed with a $1.6 million in federal funds, advocates in Brockton set out to reduce overdose deaths by 40%. Then COVID hit, and the crisis spiraled, with fentanyl lacing drugs like crack and cocaine. Their work could become a model for what works — or doesn’t — to save lives. [Read more.]( [With ‘fentanyl everywhere’ and Black deaths soaring, advocates in Brockton test ways to save lives]( Armed with a $1.6 million in federal funds, advocates in Brockton set out to reduce overdose deaths by 40%. Then COVID hit, and the crisis spiraled, with fentanyl lacing drugs like crack and cocaine. Their work could become a model for what works — or doesn’t — to save lives. [Read more.]( [This Massachusetts doctor's trips to Mississippi to perform abortions will end if Roe v. Wade is overturned]( Jackson Women's Health Organization is the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. It has had to pay out-of-state doctors like Dr. Cheryl Hamlin from Cambridge to perform abortions, which carries some stigma in the Mississippi medical community. Hamlin talks to WBUR's All Things Considered about her monthly stints at the clinic. [Read more.]( [This Massachusetts doctor's trips to Mississippi to perform abortions will end if Roe v. Wade is overturned]( Jackson Women's Health Organization is the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. It has had to pay out-of-state doctors like Dr. Cheryl Hamlin from Cambridge to perform abortions, which carries some stigma in the Mississippi medical community. Hamlin talks to WBUR's All Things Considered about her monthly stints at the clinic. [Read more.]( [Pediatric medical care in Boston is consolidating as Boston Children's expands and Tufts shrinks]( The region's biggest pediatric hospital is getting bigger while its smaller competitor closes services. [Read more.]( [Pediatric medical care in Boston is consolidating as Boston Children's expands and Tufts shrinks]( The region's biggest pediatric hospital is getting bigger while its smaller competitor closes services. [Read more.]( [Omicron poses about half the risk of long COVID as delta, new research finds]( Some scientists estimate that cases of long COVID from omicron will still rise, however, because of high transmissibility and the misconception that people don't have to worry about catching it. [Read more.]( [Omicron poses about half the risk of long COVID as delta, new research finds]( Some scientists estimate that cases of long COVID from omicron will still rise, however, because of high transmissibility and the misconception that people don't have to worry about catching it. [Read more.]( [Study linking COVID in utero to increased risk of developmental delays spurs debate]( The research, conducted by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital, examined electronic medical records from more than 7,500 patients at six hospitals. [Read more.]( [Study linking COVID in utero to increased risk of developmental delays spurs debate]( The research, conducted by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital, examined electronic medical records from more than 7,500 patients at six hospitals. [Read more.]( Triple your impact to WBUR. [Donate now]( What We're Reading 📚 Advanced prosthetic limbs can be controlled solely by a person’s thoughts. But one thing they can’t do: give a person a sense of touch. A team at the University of Pittsburgh is trying to change that. [Jon Hamilton of NPR]( offers us a sneak peek into the latest advances in the field. Researchers are adding sensors to artificial hands and feet that can then be linked to a person’s own nervous system. It approximates a sense of touch by connecting the limb to a device that’s implanted in a person’s spine. "It basically looks like a spaghetti noodle," Lee Fisher, a biomedical engineer, told Hamilton. Having this tactile information is extremely useful for the brain. You rely on this information to do basic things, like walking and feeding yourself. Early studies suggest having a sense of touch in a prosthetic limb can cut the time it takes to do a task in half — and sometimes people using the new sensors can be almost as fast as an able-bodied person doing the same task. For now, however, the prosthetic sense of touch is pretty basic. People describe it as vibrating, tingling or pressure. It’s far more difficult to give the person a sense of a texture or enough tactile feedback to differentiate between types of objects. According to Hamilton, that’s hard to achieve, but — hopefully — not totally out of reach for this team of researchers. "The drug supply has never been as lethally toxic as it is right now." — [Allyson Pinkhover]( director of substance use services at the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center ICYMI [Overdose deaths reached a record high in Mass. during 2021]( A stunning 2,290 people died after an overdose in Massachusetts last year, setting a new record, according to state officials. Experts believe a two factors contributed to the increase. [Read more.]( [Overdose deaths reached a record high in Mass. during 2021]( A stunning 2,290 people died after an overdose in Massachusetts last year, setting a new record, according to state officials. Experts believe a two factors contributed to the increase. [Read more.]( 🧠💥 Did you know...💥🧠 ...dolphins can identity a friend by [the taste of their urine]( They swim through “excretion plumes” with their mouths open. As [Melissa Hobson reports in Vice]( the scientists set out to learn more about dolphin’s signature whistles but ended up discovering this fun tidbit instead. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2022 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.