When the federal government approved a vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds in May, Travanna Lewis, 14, did not get the shot. Her mother believed the coronavirus vaccines were developed too rapidly; it all felt too risky, she said.
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But Travanna has sickle cell anemia, a rare red blood cell disorder that requires her to receive monthly blood transfusions. And when her mother, Wendy Lewis, took her to her doctor over the summer, the physician urgently explained the grave dangers that could await the teenager if she contracted the virus unvaccinated.
So Lewis decided to get her daughter vaccinated in late August. They selected a clinic at a nearby middle school because they heard the city was giving away gift cards and AirPods to children who got a shot there.
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The Lewis family did not know that when Travanna got the shot, the city entered all vaccinated children into a raffle to win a $25,000 scholarship — the grand prize among a number of city incentives to persuade young people to get vaccinated.
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This week, the District announced that Travanna was the first of eight teenagers to win the $25,000 scholarship, money that the freshman at Digital Pioneers Academy Public Charter School says she will use to become a lawyer.
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“A tremendous burden was lifted off of my shoulders,” said Lewis, who is enrolled in a D.C. workforce training program and said her youngest daughter did not have a college fund before this prize. “Just a tremendous blessing.”
The District has struggled to get teenagers vaccinated, particularly in communities of color with high concentrations of poverty.
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And the consequences of low vaccination rates are dire. In addition to the health risks, unvaccinated schoolchildren are more likely to miss in-person school if they are exposed to someone who has the virus. Under city rules, asymptomatic vaccinated students and staff do not need to quarantine if they are in contact with someone who tests positive. Unvaccinated people must quarantine.
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The city has not collected school-by-school vaccination data and has not provided a breakdown of quarantine numbers by ward.
The city launched its vaccine incentive program on Aug. 7 to boost immunization rates, with a focus on Wards 5, 7 and 8 — wards with high concentrations of poverty and low vaccination rates. So far, 938 children between the ages of 12 and 17 have received their vaccinations at a designated site. Six hundred of these children live in Wards, 5, 7 or 8.
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But the vaccination rate disparities between adolescents who live in the poorest wards and those who live in the wealthiest wards are still drastic.
Citywide, 42 percent of 12-to-15-year-olds and 41 percent of 16-to-17-year-olds are fully vaccinated.
In Ward 7 — the ward where the Lewis family lives — 22 percent of 12-to-15-year-olds and 21 percent of 16-to-17-year-olds are fully vaccinated. These disparities mirror those in the adult populations in these wards.
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“There is nothing more important you can do right now than to take your shot and then go home and tell five other people to take their shot,” acting D.C. state superintendent of education Christina Grant said at an event Wednesday at Digital Pioneers Academy to present Travanna with the $25,000 check. “It is the only way we can stop the spread of the coronavirus.”
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Following the lead of the federal government and other jurisdictions, the District has more recently turned to mandates to increase vaccination rates. In September, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced that all teachers and school staff and early-child-care workers in the District must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Nov. 1.
She also said student-athletes 12 and older must be vaccinated by Nov. 1 to participate in school-based sports.
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D.C. Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) introduced legislation this week that would require all eligible students to be vaccinated by Dec. 15. California announced this month that all eligible students must be vaccinated to attend in-person school.
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Mashea Ashton, founder of Digital Pioneers Academy, a charter school located in the Capitol Hill area with a high population of low-income students, said she estimates that about half of the school’s ninth-graders are vaccinated. The percentage, she said, is lower for eighth-graders.
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The school paid for Uber car-sharing service for about 50 families who requested a ride to get vaccinated, according to Ashton.
“We remove the obstacles,” Ashton said. “That’s what we do.”
The Lewis family shows just how complicated and layered mistrust of the vaccines are — and how much work the city still needs to do to educate children and adults about the vaccines. Travanna’s siblings — ages 17, 21 and 25 — are not yet vaccinated. The whole family agrees that they would not want Travanna to return to in-person classes if she was unvaccinated.
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Sakeithia Christian, Travanna’s 25-year-old sister, said she has been educating herself about the coronavirus vaccines and has grown more confident in them after Travanna received one. Christian said she and her other siblings plan to get vaccinated in coming weeks.
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For now, the Lewis family is still in shock and celebrating Travanna’s new college fund. Christian, who has an undergraduate and business degree, said she has heaps of student loans and has been trying to explain to her youngest sister just what a transformational prize this can be.
“This type of help keeps you from getting in a deep hole,” Christian said. “I want her to understand that this is a life-changing opportunity.”
Travanna struggled in virtual learning and credits vaccination for allowing her to return. And, she says, getting the shots wasn’t such a big deal.
“I feel like it’s safer for everyone,” she said. “The shot didn’t hurt, it just felt like a regular flu shot.”
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