As you might know by now, the COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for children between the ages of 5 and 11 after only being available to those who are 12+ for the longest time.
With that being said, while the formula is the same as the adult vaccines, the only difference being the smaller dosage, it’s perfectly normal for parents to still have some concerns and questions about it before actually vaccinating their young ones.
As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made sure to clarify some things and to hopefully reassure and inform you.
Here are the 5 most common questions the CDC provided answers to!
- Is it possible for the child to develop COVID-19 from the vaccine?
The answer provided was pretty simple and straight to the point – getting COVID from the shot is not actually possible.
- What are the risks of not vaccinating your child?
The CDC explains that COVID-19 infections among children, just like among adults, can lead to severe cases that then lead to hospitalization and even deaths.
Furthermore, for those who recover, there is also the risk of developing Long COVID and having to deal with long term (months long) or even permanent symptoms.
Inflammatory syndromes (MIS-C) could also occur, causing different body parts to become inflamed including the skin, eyes, gastrointestinal organs, kidneys, lungs, heart or even the brain!
Over the whole duration of the pandemic, more than 2,300 cases of MIS-C among kids in that age group have been reported.
- Are the vaccines thoroughly vetted?
The CDC would like you to rest assured that all the COVID-19 vaccines available currently have undergone and continue to undergo very intense safety monitoring – perhaps the most intense monitoring in the United States’ history!
Prior to approving young children for vaccination, experts in the field of science have conducted a number of clinical trials involving thousands of children and no safety concerns were identified.
- Is your child passing away from a COVID-19 infection a real concern?
It’s a well known fact that COVID-19 tends to mostly affect the elderly and people suffering from serious illnesses with very weakened immune systems.
However, that is not to say young children are completely safe from developing life threatening complications.
Based on data from last month, kids in the 5 to 11 age group have been hospitalized 8,300 times for COVID-related complications and around 190 of them have tragically lost their lives.
To put things into perspective, COVID-19 is one of the top 10 causes of death for kids in that age group!
- Was the vaccine approval for children rushed?
The CDC continuously monitors the safety of all available vaccines and this includes the risks of developing myocarditis in that age group.
What they have discovered is that pre-teens and teens between the ages of 12 and 17 are more at risk of developing myocarditis than younger minors do and the risks are already very low to begin with so there is no reason to worry.
In fact, during clinical trials, zero cases of myocarditis occurred in the 5 to 11 age group.
