vaccinating all of the children … that seems a bit … much for me.”
Panel member Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, says, “It’s always nerve-racking, I think, when you’re asked to make a decision for millions of children based on studies of only a few thousand children.”
The importance of the vaccine for kids
But he stressed that the potential threat from a pediatric infection with COVID-19 is real.
“The question is, when do you know enough?” Offit adds. “And I think we certainly know that there are many children between 5 and 11 years of age who are susceptible to this disease who could very well be sick and are hospitalized or die from it.”
In fact, more than 1.9 million children aged 5 to 11 have tested positive for the coronavirus over the course of the pandemic, and more than 8,400 have been hospitalized, Dr. Fiona Havers, a medical officer with the CDC shares. And when hospitalized with COVID-19, children are more likely to be admitted to the intensive care and more likely to need a ventilator than children hospitalized with the flu are, she adds.
Children who contract COVID-19 are also at risk for a rare inflammatory condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). As of Oct. 4, more than 5,200 children of all ages have developed MIS-C, and 46 have died, Havers says, adding that the condition was most common in younger children.
How will the vaccine be administered?
Now, the Biden administration’s plans to roll out the vaccine through pediatricians’ offices, community clinics and pharmacies will begin, as U.S. health officials hope to reassure hesitant parents that the jab will protect their kids from COVID-19.
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More than 25,000 pediatric and family doctor clinics will provide vaccinations to children, along with tens of thousands of pharmacies, children’s hospitals and community health centers, according to the White House plan.
“Our planning efforts mean that we will be ready to begin getting shots in arms in the days following a final CDC recommendation,” a White House statement on the plan says.
The federal government has already bought enough vaccine to fully cover all 28 million American kids aged 5 to 11, and it will be distributed in smaller packages of about 100 doses each, to make things more manageable for doctors’ offices and community health centers, the White House adds.
If you have questions about the vaccine, you should talk with your child’s pediatrician, school nurse or local pharmacist to learn more.