With Omicron here, don’t wait to vaccinate children | Health news from the healthiest communities

Almost 30 million children aged 5 to 11 are eligible for a COVID-19[feminine vaccin. Les parents, cependant, ont encore des questions, et beaucoup attendent de faire vacciner leurs enfants. L’émergence de la variante omicron fait de cette hésitation un choix risqué pour les enfants et pour nos communautés.

Au cours de la décennie depuis que je suis devenu pédiatre, je n’ai jamais vu autant d’enfants excités pour une injection, certains faisant même la queue joyeusement aux portes des cabinets de médecins et d’autres endroits où les injections sont proposées. Ces lignes sont trompeuses, cependant, car les preuves suggèrent que les familles excitées sont en minorité.

Sondage récent de la Kaiser Family Foundation shown that about 30% of parents said they definitely would not vaccinate their 5-11 year old, and 32% planned to “wait and see”. This and other information portends that a majority of eligible children aged 5-11 will not be vaccinated by the end of the year, and is what I see with my own patients.

Misinformation is rampant and parents still have questions. And because in many cases vaccination has become a political statement, rather than a medical decision, parents may be less comfortable seeking the answers they need. The three most common questions I hear from parents regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and children relate to reports of myocarditis, concerns about infertility, and the possibility of unknown long-term side effects.

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, and is a rare side effect that was seen following receipt of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. (The Pfizer vaccine is the only one available for children ages 5 to 11.) It’s also a known complication of COVID-19 itself – myocarditis isn’t just more common following an infection, corn heart problems caused by the disease maybe more severe too. There were no cases of myocarditis in the clinical trial for the 5 to 11 year age group. This is no surprise, given the size of the trial and the rarity of the disease. But the relatively few cases that can appear are likely much milder than those we’ve seen after COVID-19.

Regarding infertility, there is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccination will have any impact on future fertility. A theory behind it the myth was completely disproved, and we also have real evidence to prove that it is wrong. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, noted study data showing that 4,800 people in a surveillance system to track side effects of the COVID vaccine have had a positive pregnancy test after receiving a vaccine.

The last common question, regarding long term side effects, is a little more difficult to answer. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty, but using all the information we have we can do our best.

The first thing to consider is that although this particular vaccine is new, it is not experimental. Start of work on mRNA vaccines decades ago. We also have strong and reassuring clinical trial data in the 5-11 age group. All of this indicates that the vaccine is safe for young children.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 has been linked to long-term complications that have absolutely had an impact on children, including long COVID and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. Indeed, children from 5 to 11 years old are higher risk than any other age group for the development of MIS-C. At the same time, we have no evidence to suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine will cause long-term complications.

There are still many more questions than answers regarding the omicron variant, which is now spread rapidly in the United States. We cannot afford to wait and see what happens. Vaccines remain our most powerful tool to protect ourselves and our children, and we must use them.

As families gather for the December vacation, the risk to unvaccinated children remains. And until we stop the spread of this virus, the pandemic will continue.

Approval of a vaccine for 5 to 11 year olds has the potential to bring us 28 million steps to the end of this pandemic. But only if we ask the questions, get the answers, and stand in line to immunize our children.