On Saturday, the Biden Administration issued approval for Pfizer vaccines along with Moderna vaccines for infants between 6 months and five years old. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky looked excited in her video of the announcement.
The Washington Post and its counterparts are equally thrilled about the fact that these vaccines have been “finally” approved, a moment “many parents have anxiously awaited for months.”
Joe Biden and his wife Jill went to the COVID vaccine center on Tuesday.
Biden said, “We're the only country in the world doing this right now.” That is a good reason to ask what is the reason we're the only country that supplies our children with MRNA vaccines? It's kind of odd to be serving our children as test subjects around the globe.
I am also wondering: What is this excitement when children are at a very low risk of dying from the viral disease? From UNICEF:
The evidence available suggests the direct effect of COVID-19 in relation to child deaths, adolescents, and young people to be minimal. But, there is worry that the indirect impacts of the disease on mortality rates in the aforementioned age groups resulting from the strain on health systems as well as the loss of household income as well as disruptions to health-seeking preventative measures like vaccination could be more significant.
The effects are “limited,” says UNICEF, in addition “indirect effects” of the pandemic have been more damaging on children than actual illness. What can the vaccine do to fix this?
But President Biden isn't too worried about snapping selfies with his little children Tuesday at a vaccination center in the Church of the Holy Communion in Washington D.C., saying, “This is a great day for all of you. Thank you for the example that you're setting.”
They might be setting an example for their children, but it's clear that the majority of parents will not follow in their footsteps. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows that less than one in five children's parents who are under five are interested in getting their children vaccinated. 38 percent say they'll continue to let it go and observe. 27 percent of respondents said they would “definitely not” get their younger children vaccinations. The vaccines were also provided to children 5-11 in November this year, yet only 30 percent of them have decided to take advantage of the offer and have been immunized.
Children's Health Defense says it's all about the money.
However, if the vaccine is included in the schedule of vaccines for children and is mandated as other vaccines for children it could become an evergreen market, bringing billions of dollars for the pharmaceutical companies.
This is also to soothe anxious parents who are scared by a condition that won't affect their children. From Axios:
“Some parents are so concerned about the risk of exposure that they're still completely isolating their children socially, perhaps above and beyond what the current CDC and AAP guidelines currently suggest,” said Mark Sawyer, an infectious disease specialist at Rady Children's Hospital and a participant on the committee. “The availability of this vaccine will liberate those children to some extent.”
I'm sure it's impossible to calm parents as much as this.
The issue is further complicated by the effectiveness of the vaccine for children. As per Yale Medicine, the data aren't all that impressive:
Moderna: Initial results show that this vaccine is 51% effective against symptoms of infection in children aged 6 months to 2 years old, as well as 37% efficient for those aged between 2 and 5 years old. …Vaccine effectiveness was much lower for both vaccines within this age group, when relative to their effectiveness for adults.
Dr. Brian Murray, a specialist in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, says (emphasis mine), “We know the vaccines offer the same protection for adults, and we hope to see similar protection for children. However, we aren't sure what the effectiveness of these vaccines is in the real world with regard to protecting you from getting infected.”
This isn't exactly comforting. What about children? Do they require boosters? It's a sure bet however the FDA declares the fact that children “may” need it. We've seen this film before.
Please forgive me for not being thrilled with the news about the official approval for the child COVID vaccines. It was nearly a year ago that I was fully vaccinated to ensure I could go to visit an elderly relative, lay in the bed with COVID hearing Biden explain to me, “You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”
I haven't been listening to his voice since.
