COVID Experts Explain the Risks and Benefits of Vaccines for Toddlers | Fitness

Baltimore – As more adults are vaccinated with COVID-19, the coronavirus targets more children who are not yet targeted for firing. However, the first vaccine for a 5-year-old child may be ready in September.

A gathering of experts explained the benefits and some risks of vaccination of children at a symposium hosted by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington on Wednesday.

“COVID-19 should be considered a preventable disease with vaccines in children,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “COVID should be ranked high in terms of preventable illness and death.”

According to her and others, children are physically and mentally burdened while under threat of infection. Vaccines allow them and their families to return to a more normal life.

Children now account for about a quarter of new infectious diseases, according to federal data. Cases are much less likely to be more severe than adults, but deaths from COVID are three times higher than deaths from influenza. Not all of the long-term effects of this disease are yet clear.

The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine has already been approved for use in adolescents up to the age of 12, and the company plans to submit study data for children up to the age of 5 in September. Moderna is testing vaccines in children 16 and 17 years old and younger.

Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are also testing vaccines in adolescence. The J & J vaccine has already been approved for adults, but Novavax has applied for an emergency vaccine license from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Officials from both companies said at a virtual symposium that children’s vaccinations are expected to be lower than adults’ vaccinations, but they have achieved the same high efficacy.

Other panelists have spoken to black and Hispanic residents who were suffering from imbalanced health inequalities both before and after the pandemic, especially the concerns parents may have when inoculating their children with new vaccines.

False information about vaccines is spreading rapidly, especially through social media, said Amy Pisani, executive director of Vaccinate Your Family, an educational organization co-founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

She said there were three major issues. Parents want a licensed and unlicensed vaccine. They wanted a messenger they could trust. It requires commitment from doctors, and faith and community leaders.

“They want to know about the long-term effects of vaccines, and we argue that we are unaware of the long-term effects of COVID,” Pisani said.

She and other panelists said that much of what scientists know about vaccines is based on responses from millions of shots given to adults and now adolescents.

Of greatest concern so far in adolescence is rare myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, and inflammation of the tissues surrounding the heart. The FDA has identified about 300 young adults and adolescents and said this week it would add a warning label for rare, usually mild reactions.

Dr. Jose Romero, a member of the CDC’s Immunization Implementation Advisory Board, said federal regulators would review all data before urgently permitting and finally approving the use of the vaccine in children. Stated.

Romero, who is also the Secretary of Health in Arkansas, said there are many ways to collect data. This includes not only trials, but also reports from the general public and the medical community after use. Trials, especially in children, are too small to detect rare side effects.

He said that was the way myocarditis was discovered.

“At this point, we’ve looked at the data in as much detail as possible,” says Romero. “I think the risk of COVID is greater than the risk of vaccines, but we will continue to evaluate it over time.”

This includes data on adolescents over the age of 12 who have already been vaccinated with Pfizer and may soon be vaccinated with Moderna, said Peter, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Dr. Marks said.

He said most side effects are similar to those in adults, including pain at the injection site and flu-like symptoms that last for a day or two. I had some allergic reactions. Very few adults vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson have had blood clots.

“The challenge for the FDA is to stay transparent as we want and to maintain the confidence of the vaccine as we want,” he said.

Panelists pointed out that the demand for vaccines is declining. According to federal statistics, about 54.4% of the US population has been vaccinated at least once, and 53.6% over the age of 12 have been vaccinated at least once. The most widely used vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna both need to be given twice.

Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Index Evaluation at the University of Washington, said that the more infectious delta variants provide a stronger foothold, so how many adults and children will be vaccinated “very much. It will be important. “

Murray said he expected a surge in late-autumn incidents after the children returned to school.

Dr. Joshua Schaffstein, Vice Dean of Public Health Practices and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health School, means that it is important to earn the trust of parents.

He said that recruiting diverse volunteers is difficult in some trials and can signal problems that earn parents confidence in vaccination.

“It’s really important to invest in outreach and sustainable engagement,” he said.

But if the vaccination rate doesn’t go up, there’s one thing that’s already clear.

US Congressman Kim Schlier, a Democrat in Washington, said:

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