Doctors: Vaccines Reduce Children’s Risk | News, Sports, Work

Landon Burwell, son of Dr. David Burwell, Chief Quality Officer of UPMC’s Altoona, Bedford, Somerset and Western Maryland, will receive a COVID-19 booster shot on Friday.Courtesy photo

According to a pair of pediatricians, children are not at high risk for COVID-19, but it is important to be vaccinated anyway.

Vaccination significantly reduces the small personal risks faced by children and reduces the risk of transmitting the virus to people who are very vulnerable to hospitalization and death.

Doctors said it is a follow-on risk to the Omicron variant that infects a significant number of vaccinated people.

However, according to Dr. Nader Younes of the Pediatric Health Associates in Altoona and Dr. Jessica Ericson, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital in Hercy, pediatric vaccination rates in the region are adult vaccinations. Not good, reflecting the low rate. ..

Although the risk to children is low, new epidemics of Omicron, reopening of schools, and mitigation of mitigation measures have shown that the risk to children is greater than previously recognized, Ericsson said.

More children are hospitalized

Evidence is that the number of children hospitalized for COVID-19 at Hershey is increasing. According to Ericsson, there are currently 20 and most are unvaccinated, almost three times the previous peak in October. Everyone who comes to the hospital needs oxygen, and some need to use a ventilator for as long as two weeks.

She said two people died.

“We have underestimated how many children could be affected.” She said. “We have misdeveloped the idea that children do not get sick.”

At the Pediatric Medical Associates, the number of COVID-19 patients has increased to an average of about 10 per day in the past few months, Younes said.

Before that, the number was “Sporadic” He said.

Younes said the idea that a child wouldn’t get sick with COVID-19 is a myth.

UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh is now “See the upward trend” For children who test positive and need hospitalization, according to Dr. David Burgwell, Chief Quality Officer at UPMC’s Altoona, Bedford, Somerset, and Western Maryland.

The surge in pediatric cases is probably due to the high infectivity of Omicron.

There seems to be some disagreement about other reports that Omicron is milder than its former predominant subspecies, Delta.

The number of ICUs in UPMC Children is declining despite the increasing number of cases.

Hospitalization for pediatric care remained flat, even with more cases.

Hershey didn’t have time to check recent numbers due to the surge, but Ericsson is skeptical that Omicron is milder.

The belief of calm began with early studies, but it took place where vaccination rates and previous infection rates were higher than in our area, perhaps providing less prevalent protection here. She said she was.

Social interests

According to Ericsson, Omicron has breakthrough cases, but remains less frequent than infections in unvaccinated people. And those who have been vaccinated with the infection are less contagious. Vaccinated people are transmitted for a shorter period of time.

According to Ericson and Younes, vaccination works well to prevent hospitalization and death, especially with boosters, even though it does not provide full insurance against infections.

However, some families are reluctant.

Only about 30 percent of families patronizing Pediatric Healthcare Associates have their children vaccinated, Younes said.

He said it was a shame.

He said that about half of parents who have not been vaccinated against their children are not vaccinated themselves.

According to Ericsson, who did not hesitate to take shots for kindergarten children, refusing to take shots indicates a lack of awareness of comparative risk.

If an unvaccinated child is infected with COVID-19, there are two-hundredths of two percent, she said, and something bad could happen.

She said the chances of bad side effects from vaccination are only one in two million.

“Extraordinary (different)” Ericsson said. “Mathematics is clear.”

She shared other statistics on another slope:

According to early findings, 3% to 5% of children infected with COVID-19 in the Hershey Hospital catchment area were eventually hospitalized, Ericsson said.

She said that about 1% of children infected with COVID-19 ended up in the intensive care unit. About half of the ICUs require a ventilator.

Vaccine side effects

Short-lived

“It is very unlikely that your child will get sick or die.” Ericsson said. “There is a 100% chance that someone’s child will be very ill.”

Vaccination side effects such as arm pain, fever, and headaches last up to two days, Younes said.

According to Younes, several cases of post-vaccination myocarditis in older children have been reported.

But he said they all settled on their own. COVID-19 itself is 10 times more likely to cause myocarditis.

The vaccination decision is “A little political” Younes said.

Some argue that development and approval have been urgent, he said. That’s not true — even if the urgency of the situation led to process compression.

“I understand hesitation” Since the early days of the pandemic, John Pastrek, the pharmacy director of the main line pharmacy, has provided 10,000 vaccinations for younger children and 20,000 vaccinations for older children in clinics and stores.

He said that the proportion of children in the vaccinated area is much smaller than that of adults.

He said his parents had expressed concern about the vaccine’s interaction with the growing body.

“I don’t think there is science behind it.” He said. He said his parents were careful. “But we have to do something to end the pandemic.”

Weekly test prompted

He recommends promptly testing all students and staff at all schools once a week or once a month to identify asymptomatic but contagious individuals.

Infected individuals can be transmitted for two days before symptoms appear.

He said the peak of infection can last 3-5 days after the onset of symptoms, and the infectious can last up to 10 days after the onset of symptoms.

Adopting such a policy can be problematic due to the limited number of tests available, he said.

“I’m not considering that idea here.” Paula Foreman, a spokeswoman for the Altuna Area School District, said. “It will be a school board decision.”

Since the beginning of the school year, 125 Altoona staff and 537 students have tested positive for COVID-19, including 38 students this week, Foreman said.

“There was an increase in COVID activity.” Foreman said.

The school district requires parents to keep their students home if they have symptoms and notify the school district if their child tests positive.

The district will conduct contact tracing to identify who needs quarantine notice.

Pediatric vaccination by local government, 5-11 years old:

Blair 337 Partial; 892 Full; Bedford 46, 151; Cambria 488, 882; Center 538, 2,891; Clearfield 159, 354; and Huntingdon 83, 165.

Mirror staff writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.