Even as Covid-19 cases fall, kids should still get vaccinated

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States have fallen to levels not seen since October 2020.
• Vaccination among adults helped in lowering the nation’s Covid-19 cases.
• Experts say vaccinating children people is a significant part of protecting the community because they need protection, too.

Do younger children still need to receive the Covid-19 vaccine when a shot becomes available?

Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, says yes.

According to experts, vaccinating young people is needed to protect the broader community from the virus. “And although serious disease among children is rare, they need protection, too.”

Edwards said that “kids wouldn’t have to get vaccinated if all the adults would.” said Edwards, who is the associate medical director of Pediatric Infection Control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

“I think then you’d have so little community spread that it wouldn’t be a problem. However, we know that a huge chunk of adults aren’t going to get vaccinated, and that leaves some kids vulnerable, and that’s why they need the vaccine.”

Only 12 states have at least 70% of adults have at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. That means the US has not reached herd immunity. But medical experts say children will also need to play a role.

“We really need to add another group of children to be vaccinated to come across that threshold to reach herd immunity,” said Dr. Claire Boogaard, a pediatrician and medical director of the Covid-19 vaccine program at Children’s National.

The US Food and Drug Administration has given Pfizer a green light for their vaccine intended for people 12 years and older. Both Moderna and Pfizer have begun testing vaccines in children ages 6 months to 11 years.

Currently, Johnson & Johnson is testing its single-dose vaccine in people ages 12 to 17.

According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, he’s optimistic that children younger than 12 could get vaccinated by Thanksgiving, and children of all ages may be eligible by the end of 2021.

Vaccination is good for the children who are eligible, good for the community, and the numbers are falling because vaccines work, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

“The more people we can vaccinate, the more lives we’re going to save,” O’Leary said. “That includes children.”

Covid-19 is now among the top causes of child death. O’Leary said: “If you can prevent one of those causes of death with something as simple as a vaccine, obviously you would want to do that.

Covid-19 is more likely to be severe in adults, but children can become severely ill, too, and some have died, CNN reported.

On Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that in the month before the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for people as young as 12, the agency received “troubling data” about adults hospitalized with severe Covid-19.

“And while cases across the country overall have declined, the pandemic isn’t over yet.”

Source: CNN