Hello Access Family Medicine family,
Pediatric Covid 19 vaccines have raised some controversy everywhere. Below is some scientific information that may help you decide if you have children ages 5-11 or please share with someone you know who needs to make the decision.
UNBIASED SCIENCE PODCAST:
Tragically, 645 children have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. putting it as one of the top 10 causes of death for children ages 5-11. But death isn’t the only possible outcome of the infection.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 8,300 kids have been hospitalized with COVID-19, and even among those who only had a mild initial illness, many experience long-term symptoms such as unusual fatigue, shortness of breath, ‘brain fog’ causing memory loss or difficulty concentrating, sleep disorders, unexplained fevers, gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety, and depression.
To avoid exposing your little ones to these long-term effects, we strongly suggest you get them vaccinated. The currently available vaccines are safe and highly effective. In the clinical trials, which included over 3,000 kids ages 5-11, there were no serious adverse events associated with the vaccine, including myocarditis or anaphylaxis. These trials found that the vaccine was 90.7% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and concluded that the most common reactions were pain at the injection site, fatigue, and headache.
The benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the risks. Multiple analyses have been conducted to predict the outcomes of various scenarios. The overarching results show that the number of clinically significant COVID-related outcomes prevented by the vaccine clearly outweigh the number of vaccine-associated excess myocarditis cases.
Children contribute to the spread of COVID-19 and getting them vaccinated will slow the virus transmission. This will protect children as well as all other at-risk populations.
Finally, getting our kids vaccinated could mean the safe return to schooling with the gradual relaxation of other mitigation measures, such as masking.
Please do not minimize the impact of COVID-19 on children. We have a safe and highly effective preventive tool that makes ANY future child death completely unacceptable. Further, comparing child mortality due to COVI9 to mortality due to other causes is [not helpful]. If we had a safe and effective vaccine for all causes of child mortality, we would likely recommend that as well.
Blessings!
Dr. Powell
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