Expert Answers to Key Questions About COVID Vaccines for Kids

June 28, 2022 – Some necessary questions stay after the latest authorizations of two COVID-19 vaccines for infants, toddlers, and younger youngsters via 5 years of age. If you are a father or mother or well being care supplier perplexed by all of the nuances, you are not alone.

To reply a few of these questions, infectious illness consultants shared what they know throughout a media briefing right now sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The FDA approved the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines on the identical day, June 17. But that doesn’t imply they’re the identical: They are dosed in another way, on totally different schedules, and for barely totally different age ranges.

“There shall be alternatives for confusion there,” mentioned C. Buddy Creech, MD, president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Along with Jason G. Newland, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Creech addressed different considerations, together with:

• What did research for the newly approved COVID-19 vaccines in youngsters 6 months outdated and older present, and why did outcomes take so lengthy?
• Are vaccines actually obligatory if it appeared the youngest youngsters have been largely spared from the results of COVID-19 early on within the pandemic?
• Why did officers authorize two doses for the Moderna and three doses for the Pfizer vaccines?
• Should dad and mom wait if their baby will transfer to an older vaccine dose group quickly?
• Why are some pharmacies and different retail settings reluctant or unwilling to vaccinate these youngest youngsters?

What Studies Showed

Regarding the information reviewed by the FDA, the CDC, and their impartial advisory teams, “we all know that three doses of the Pfizer vaccine, at a tenth of the [adult] dose, and two doses of the Moderna vaccine, at 1 / 4 of the dose, lead to immune responses which might be on par, if not generally higher than, what we see in younger adults receiving the complete dose of vaccine,” mentioned Creech, who can also be director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program in Nashville.

“That’s actually necessary as a result of it reveals us that youngsters reply very effectively to the vaccine,” he mentioned. “And in fact, that’s what we saw. We saw protection against both the Delta and the Omicron variants during those waves when the clinical trials were underway.”

Many parents anxious to vaccinate their youngest children wondered why emergency use authorization took longer in this age group.

“We wanted to make sure that we could find the smallest dose necessary to make the best immune response possible,” Creech said. Finding the optimal dose takes time “because we’re evaluating safety and revaluating how well the immune response handles that vaccine.”

In terms of safety, children ages 6 months up to 4 years in the Pfizer research and ages 6 months through 5 years in the Moderna studies showed “they respond like they do to any other childhood vaccine,” Creech said.

Low-grade fever, for example, occurs in about 5% to 6% of children.

“Some children get fatigued,” he said. “They take an extra-long nap the next day – which I’ve never heard of a parent complain about at any point.” Soreness where they got the shot and some fussiness for a day or two have also been reported.

“What’s most important is that we did not see any of the severe adverse events that we were specifically looking for, whether that was unusual heart inflammation, blood clots, hospitalization, or anything related to that,” he said.

The evidence so far indicates “it works and that it’s safe, and that should give parents and pediatricians a lot of confidence,” Creech mentioned.

But Aren’t Kids Resilient?

“At the start of the pandemic, we talked about how [young children] have been type of virtually spared and we weren’t seeing quite a lot of illness,” mentioned Newland, a professor of pediatrics and pediatric infectious illness at Washington University.

But, he mentioned, “what we’ve got seen, particularly with Omicron, was various hospital admissions, and we had – particularly on this age group of these lower than 5 – over 400 deaths.”

Newland mentioned dad and mom questioning why they need to vaccinate their younger youngsters ought to take into account these three issues:

1. “Number one, it would stop dying.”
2. The vaccines can stop extreme illness and hospitalization. “Many of you’ve got realized about this multi-system inflammatory syndrome in youngsters,” Newland mentioned. “You are actually impacting some potential long-term problems by being vaccinated.”
3. Vaccinating the youngest may help defend the entire household. “We all dwell in properties with family members or with a number of generations, and by having one other particular person vaccinated, we now are offering one other layer of safety for these on the highest danger.”

Two Doses or Three?

The first and second doses of a major vaccine collection are scheduled about 1 month aside to create a superb immune response up entrance, Creech mentioned. The Moderna vaccine on this age group “will most likely go the best way of the grownup suggestions,” he mentioned, with a booster beneficial about 5 or 6 months later.

“What Pfizer needed to do, as a result of their numbers did not look pretty much as good as they wished them to at that very tiny dose of one-tenth [the young adult dose],” was to incorporate a 3rd dose Into the first collection, Creech mentioned.

If time is a matter and a toddler must be totally protected shortly, “that may give the nod to Moderna,” he mentioned. “If time shouldn’t be a lot of a difficulty or Pfizer is the one which’s accessible, Pfizer is a superb vaccine that can even lead to excellent immune response.”

Now or Later?

A reporter requested if dad and mom ought to wait if they’ve a toddler about to age into an older vaccine dosage group.

“The greatest vaccines to get is the one which’s about to enter your shoulder, whether or not you are 4, virtually 5, or 5, virtually 6,” Creech replied. “I do not suppose now in the midst of the pandemic is the time to attend.”

He mentioned {that a} baby about to affix older friends would possible get a booster sooner or later with the subsequent acceptable dose of vaccine.

“I believe we are able to guarantee dad and mom that getting vaccinated now reasonably than ready till the subsequent age group is a really sound technique to go,” Creech mentioned.

Some Pharmacies Take a Pass

Some information headlines up to now 10 days spotlight that some pharmacies and different retail settings don’t plan to vaccinate very younger youngsters in opposition to COVID.

“Some of it’s a sensible concern that many pharmacists at a industrial pharmacy could not have quite a lot of expertise vaccinating younger youngsters lower than 5,” Creech mentioned. “This is totally different than a easy vaccine within the deltoid [shoulder muscle] of somebody purchasing for groceries after which making the most of a vaccine clinic that is there within the retailer.”

One of the explanations retail pharmacists have much less expertise is most childhood vaccines are given in a pediatrician’s or household physician’s workplace. “So they’ve much less familiarity,” Creech mentioned. Also, a few of the youthful youngsters are vaccinated within the thigh, not the shoulder.

“I agree with Dr. Creech,” Newland mentioned. “There are folks simply aren’t snug vaccinating younger youngsters as a result of they do not vaccinate quite a lot of them and plenty of younger youngsters will not sit nonetheless.”

Parents, Talk to Your Doctor

“I believe dad and mom are beginning to notice that this isn’t the pandemic of 2020,” Creech mentioned. “One of the methods it is modified is new variants have come alongside that require us to make new choices.”

He mentioned that if folks have another questions, “I’d encourage dad and mom to have a frank dialog along with your pediatrician or along with your trusted medical supplier to have the ability to suppose via what the questions are, what the dangers are, and what the advantages are – so you may make a very good resolution for your loved ones.”