When will your child be vaccinated against coronavirus?

December 3, 2020. Vaccinating your children against the COVID-19 virus will not take place “anytime soon,” says Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

1. The COVID-19 vaccine has yet to undergo trials in children. “Only after there is sufficient safety and efficacy information regarding COVID-19 vaccines in adults will trials begin in children.” Barring unforeseen events, such trials will commence in a few weeks. Hopefully, having a vaccine for children “anytime soon” means that it will be readily available by the onset of the 2021 fall schoolyear. Generally, trials in children start with children ages twelve and older. Experiences with previous vaccines show that children react well to vaccines that have been proven successful in adults, sometimes with lifelong immunity.

2. The vaccine trials in adults show “almost ideal” results. Because of new technology and know-how, trials in adults have been successful in a matter of months instead of years. Some COVID-19 vaccines produce protection in about 95% of recipients, have few and only mild side effects, and appear to be effective in older adults, a group in whom many vaccines produce poor immunity. Additional COVID-19 vaccines are in the pipeline. One vaccine may not only protect but also prevent asymptomatic carriers from spreading the infection. Asymptomatic carriers, some of them children, appear to be a significant conduit for spread.

3. If children are not added to research trials very soon, there will be a significant delay in when they are able to access a potentially life-saving vaccine. A million-plus American children have been infected since the onset of the pandemic. Moreover, children have suffered in numerous ways: disruptions to their education, harms to their mental and emotional health, and diminished access to critical medical services, for example. Still unknown are possible long-range effects. Already there have been a small number of cases of catastrophic multi-organ failures in children. Such cases may occur months after the COVID-19 infection.

4. Generally, vaccine trials with children take longer than with adults. Issues needing answers include the lower age limit where vaccines become safe and effective. That age can vary from infancy to teenagers. Adult doses may require adjustments for children’s age and weight. And numbers of doses and intervals between doses may affect optimal immunity more in children than adults. Trials typically start with older children and work their way down to infants.

5. The positive experience with adult COVID-19 vaccines trials bodes well for trials with children. Technology and know-how are similar. Vaccines safe in one age group are generally safe in others. Also, the excellent safety record in adult trials plus the terrible toll of illness and deaths from the virus will encourage parents to volunteer their children. The larger the number of volunteers, the sooner necessary data are assembled.

6. COVID-19 cannot be defeated without vaccinating children, says the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, only half of adults say they will “probably” or “definitely’’ take the vaccine. Less than half of adults take other CDC-recommended vaccines. Experience has shown that the number of adult cases of a vaccine-preventable disease drops significantly only when the vaccine is included in pediatric vaccination programs. Children are a “captive audience.” Generally, they need vaccines for school entry.

7. Hopefully, most parents will accept yet another childhood vaccine. Present vaccine schedules require children to have dozens of doses of various vaccines by school entry. A small but growing number of parents are “anti-vaxxers.” They believe that vaccines are unnecessary or harmful, that diseases disappear spontaneously or are only minor inconveniences, that too many vaccines overpower children’s immune systems making children vulnerable to other illnesses, or that vaccines are plots from rogue government agencies to control children’s minds.

8. In fact, worldwide, vaccines save millions of lives annually with virtually no known downside. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named “vaccine hesitancy” as a top threat to global health. (Some years ago, health experts named “vaccines” as a top advancement in modern medicine.) There is no evidence to substantiate anti-vaxxers theories. Moreover, parents who don’t vaccinate their children benefit from those that do; the fewer unvaccinated children there are, the lower the risk that anti-vaxxer’s children will become infected.

9. Anti-vaxxer’s computers are revved up to sow doubt about COVID-19 vaccines. On social media, the number of pages opposing vaccines far outnumbers pages promoting them. The message: COVID-19 vaccines are based on science never used before and need further study, but is being “green-lighted” for political reasons. Not so, says Dr Fauci. Fast-tracking is not skimming. The technology that made the COVID-19 vaccines available in record time also enables government oversight agencies and peer review committees to better oversee vaccine development.

10. For your information. Vaccinating children against COVID -19 may be further delayed if children receive low priority for vaccination. Other groups, health care workers and the elderly, for example, are more vulnerable to serious consequences from the virus. Early shortages of the vaccine may cause additional delays. Also, children may require more than one dose given a month or more apart to acquire optimum immunity. And immunity may not occur until several weeks after the final dose.

Note: You may find a related artcle of interest; schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic

Was this article informative? Sign up to receive similar articles twice a month. Each article covers a single subject to keep kid(s) healthy and safe for travel and outdoor activities. Widely read by healthcare professionals and sophisticated parents around the world.