Dr. Stephen Thomas, an infectious disease expert who led a clinical trial of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine, explains why it’s important for children to be vaccinated.
On Monday, the U.S. FDA granted emergency use authorization for the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 12-15 years. On Wednesday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an independent review board that advises the CDC, reviewed the available data and recommended it for this age group. Meanwhile, the vaccine continues to be tested in children down to 6 months of age. All of these activities make the once hypothetical scenario of vaccinating our children against SARS-CoV-2, very real. The question now is not whether we can we vaccinate our kids against Covid-19, but, rather, why wouldn’t we? As an infectious diseases physician who has been battling the Covid pandemic since it arrived here in the U.S. and investigator in the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine trials, I absolutely plan to ensure my children are vaccinated. Here’s why: While it is true that most children who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not become seriously ill, a small percentage do, and when you consider the U.S. has over 75 million children under the age of 19, even a small percentage becoming sick can represent a significant public health problem. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children made up just 2% of all US Covid-19 cases in April 2020. Today, children account for more than 14% of all Covid-19 cases. In the U.S. alone, there have been over 3.8 million documented Covid-19 infections in children, more than 3,000 cases of the severe hyperinflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), over 15,000 hospitalizations, and more than 300 deaths. For perspective, the 2019-2020 US influenza season was considered one of the worst for kids – there were 198 deaths.
