Experts answer questions about COVID vaccines for people under 18
While uncertainties still exist, vaccines for children crucial for herd immunity
CADILLAC — When the polio vaccine was introduced within the 1950s, children were the primary group in society to be immunized, since they were most in danger if they developed the disease.
At that point, tons of oldsters were nervous about their children getting the vaccine since it had been so new. Ultimately, however, many of these same parents decided to possess their children immunized anyway because the results of getting polio were so serious.
Fortunately, COVID-19 doesn’t have an equivalent impact on children as polio; will that fact persuade parents to not get their kids immunized against COVID once a vaccine becomes available?
Experts hope not, for several reasons.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association, as of Feb. 4, child mortality rates among U.S. states and territories (that reported the information) were 0% to 0.26% of all COVID-19 deaths, with 11 states reporting zero child deaths. meaning that 0% to 0.05% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.
Not only are deaths from COVID-19 extremely rare in children, so too are hospitalizations.
Children were 1.2% to 2.9% of total reported hospitalizations, and between 0.1% to 2.3% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization.
That being said, public health experts say the solution to the question of whether or not most adolescents should get the vaccine is an unequivocal “yes.‘
“It protects them and protects others as they can’t spread it,‘ Dr. Jennifer Morse wrote in an email to the Cadillac News. Morse is that the medical director of District Health Department No. 10 and Central Michigan District Health Department. “Help keep them in class, sports, extracurriculars, etc.‘
Morse cited a piece of writing published within the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in September 2020 that discusses the potential benefits of a future vaccine.
“In addition to direct medical benefits, a COVID-19 vaccine could provide direct benefits on childhood education by allowing a safer return to high school, a critical think about children maximizing their potential,‘ the article reads.
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“The intermittent or complete closure of faculties to onsite education threatens to adversely impact that chance across all households that can't provide direct educational oversight and is worse among households without adequate access to online learning — a problem disproportionately affecting racial minorities. additionally to the altered learning environment, social distancing and therefore the lack of extracurricular activities (e.g., sports, drama, music, art, social events) impact the emotional and psychological development of youngsters. Thus, an approved COVID-19 vaccine for youngsters could have far-reaching positive ramifications on health and academic equity.‘
Dr. Lisa Lowery, the adolescent medicine specialist at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital-Spectrum Health Medical Group, said currently there are not any vaccines approved for teenagers under the age of 16.
She said there are a few reasons why it's taken longer to develop a COVID vaccine for teenagers.
For one thing, Lowery said while researchers skill much of a dose to offer to adults, they’re still deciding what the acceptable dose is for a toddler.
Complicating those efforts are system and reactivity differences between adults and youngsters that need to be taken under consideration.
“There are tons of things to form bound to get right,‘ Lowery said.
For instance, while serious illness and death are rare in children who contract the coronavirus, Lowery said some kids develop a significant condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, which is characterized by different body parts becoming inflamed, including the guts, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
“This quite inflammatory risk makes vaccine development particularly challenging within the pediatric population,‘ reads a December 2020 article published within the medical journal Pediatric Investigation. “If the vaccine can induce this sort of antibody response, then it might potentially place otherwise healthy children in danger of severe outcome following vaccination intended to stop the illness from SARS‐CoV‐2 ... It thus is critical to possess a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology and mechanisms related to people who develop MIS-C to effectively study vaccines within the pediatric population.‘
Lowery said many parents are understandably uneasy about the thought of their kids getting a replacement vaccine; the thing they ought to confine mind, however, is that by the time one is out there for youngsters (several months from now at the earliest), many adults already would are vaccinated. She said it’s also helpful to recollect that safe and effective vaccine are around for many years for several diseases.
Similar to how the virus affects adults in certain groups and with certain pre-existing conditions, some kids are also disproportionately suffering from the virus.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association, out of 121 people under 21 years old that died of COVID, 78% were Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black or non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native; and 75% had an underlying medical condition, including asthma (28%), obesity (27%), neurologic/developmental conditions (22%), and disorder (18%).
Lowery said it's especially important that these kids get the vaccine and while there are special circumstances when a toddler (or adult) could also be advised against getting a vaccine-like if they need a severe allergy — these instances would be the rare exception instead of the norm.
“I would tell ask your medical care provider about it,‘ Lowery said.
Lowery said not only will vaccines protect individual kids, but they’ll also provide more protection for society as an entire, since immunizing kids, who comprise around one-quarter of the population, are going to be crucial to developing herd immunity.
“It is going to be very difficult to urge herd immunity without vaccinating those under 18,‘ concurred Morse.
“Vaccinated children would receive a possible direct impact from a COVID-19 vaccine, but the substantial potential for indirect effects of implementing a vaccine in children should even be recognized, as has been observed with hepatitis A, rotavirus, pneumococcus, rubella, and potentially influenza,‘ reads the article cited earlier by Morse. “Marked declines in adult pneumococcal disease occurred after implementation of 7-valent pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ... Vaccination of youngsters against COVID-19 may mimic the indirect benefits previously identified with other vaccines.‘
Dr. James Whelan, acting chief of drugs for Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital, added that if children aren’t immunized alongside the remainder of the population, they're going to act as a “reservoir‘ where the coronavirus can propagate and eventually spread into other segments of society once more.
While it’s hard to predict the longer term when it involves COVID-19, Lowery said it’s possible that this vaccine could become an annual shot a bit like the flu shot. She said it’s also possible it'd become routine for a couple of years, then be phased out.
“Only time will tell,‘ Lowery said.
In the meantime, Lowery recommends people get their children up so far on all their other vaccinations. She said there was a drop in routine vaccinations when the virus first arrived within the U.S.
“Make sure that those that can get immunized, get immunized,‘ Lowery said. “Get back to some pattern of normalcy.‘
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