On December 9, Dr. Katie Moyer, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, and Rebecca Sharpe, the FCCPS Director of Special Education, spoke to inform students about vaccines for 5-11 year olds, booster shots, and the new COVID-19 Omicron variant. 

The event took place on the third floor Learning Stairs with Moyer tuning in via Zoom. 

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Moyer addressed. “Combating it can be difficult and having people understand that science changes is very helpful.” 

She then spoke about the recently developed Pfizer oral antiviral medication that scientists tested, which reduces the risk of hospitalization by over 89 percent in COVID-19 patients. 

Sharpe remarked that Falls Church City has been quite lucky in regards to keeping COVID under control, especially in schools. This is mainly because of our effective mitigation policies, mask wearing and extremely high vaccination rate.

“In Falls Church City, students ages 12-17 have over a 90 percent vaccination rate, which is very high,” Sharpe said.

“We have followed the recommendations of the CDC regarding mitigation and worked very closely with the Fairfax Health Department who have been our partners throughout this entire pandemic,” she continued. “We here in Falls Church haven’t experienced the things that many other places have experienced. We haven’t had outbreaks, we haven’t had entire classrooms quarantined because of a positive case. We haven’t had to have sports stop, completely. We’re very lucky in that sense.”

Later in the panel, Dr. Moyer addressed the upcoming holiday season, speaking on her measures recommendation during the break in regards to travel.

“If you are flying, it’s important for you to wear a mask,” Moyer said. “Most airlines require you to have mandatory rapid testing as well. Obviously, vaccination definitely helps, safety-wise. But with the new variant, we’re still trying to figure out if the vaccine is effective, do you need to have a booster shot, or something like that and I think that that science is all coming.”

“But it’s important to know when you’re traveling, who’s vaccinated, who’s unvaccinated and who else is at risk,” Moyer continued. “The best thing you can do to protect yourself is making sure that everyone is vaccinated. And if you have any family who’s unable to be vaccinated or are at a high risk of not responding to the vaccine, doing the rapid test that’s available over the counter is a good option.”