Gabriela Marcano
reporter
As COVID vaccines for children ages 5-11 are being passed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, parents are left wondering if it’s truly safe to use.
After schools reopened to the public this fall, over 6.4 million children have been diagnosed with COVID. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 16.6% of COVID cases have been children overall.
The CDC has been working to spread out the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children in hopes of decreasing the hospitalization rate. As cases continue to rise, the CDC recommends that once shipments of the vaccine have been approved and sent to pediatric hospitals, it’s best to have children take it as soon as possible.
“For the vaccination to do its job, we must do our critical part,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “That means vaccinating as many people as possible who are eligible.”
Although the COVID-19 vaccine has already been authorized by the FDA, some trials have shown a high increase in heart inflammation, specifically in young boys. Despite this side effect, the CDC still believes children should get vaccinated.
“I do think that my kids should be vaccinated, but hearing about the side effects that come with it have made me a bit skeptical,” NW student Kristal Ramos said.
The CDC is working to make sure that children are getting the protection they need from the virus – strengthening their immune system to combat COVID. In an analysis done by the FDA, the Pfizer vaccine was shown to be 90.7% effective in combating the COVID-19 virus. The American Academy of Pediatrics has examined the results of the Pfizer vaccine for children and strongly recommended parents get their children vaccinated as soon as it becomes available.
“This is truly an exciting development that allows us to protect a large population of children and help them regain their lives after a really rough year,” AAP President Lee Savio Beers said in a statement.
The majority of parents can’t wait for their children to have some sort of protection against the virus.
NW student Haley Fullen said she doesn’t want her children to experience severe side effects of the vaccine, but if it was proved to work on children, she’d consider it.
“Having taken the vaccine myself, I wouldn’t want my children to experience the pain that comes with it,” Fullen said. “I want my kids to be as safe as possible without experiencing what us adults have gone through.”
