Should pharmaceutical companies be testing Covid Vaccines on our children?

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

I want you to think about this question as we work our way through this article. It is important that before you make any decisions for yourself, and your family that you weigh all of your options, and avoid making impulsive decisions that could affect you negatively in the future.

It has been reported that Pfizer and Moderna are in the midst of testing their vaccines in children and teens age 12 to 15 and 12 to 17. Both companies would like to have data to present to the public by June. They have also stated that they want to start testing their vaccines in progressively younger age groups. Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is authorized for persons 16 and older, and Moderna’s vaccine is authorized for those 18 and older.

Joining Pfizer and Moderna is Johnson & Johnson. They announced a couple of weeks ago that they plan to test their coronavirus vaccine on infants and new-borns.

As a parent with a newborn or young child, the health of your child is of the utmost importance. Doctors report that parents sometimes have a problem with the number of shots their child receives between two and six months. They can get up to five shots, and usually the vaccines recommended for use in all children do not interfere with each other, and can be safely given together during a single visit.

The questions that parents need to be asking at this point are: Do studies show that this vaccine will mix well with the other vaccines given to children, and is the COVID-19 vaccine necessary for this population?

According to a Mayo Clinic article, “COVID-19 (coronavirus) in babies and children,” some experts suggest that children might not be as severely affected by COVID-19 because there are other coronaviruses that spread in the community and cause diseases such as the common cold. It is well known that children often get colds, and their immune systems might be primed to provide them with some protection against COVID-19.

It’s also possible that children’s immune systems interact with the virus differently than do adults’ immune systems. In adult cases of COVID-19, they are getting sick because their immune systems seem to overreact to the virus, causing more damage to their bodies. This may be less likely to happen in children.

The CDC has also noted that COVID-19 is uncommon in new-borns born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy. Some new-borns have tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after birth, and if they did test positive for COVID-19, they had mild or no symptoms and recovered.

While all children are capable of getting the virus that causes COVID-19, they don’t become sick as often as adults. Most children have mild symptoms or no symptoms.

Research was conducted by the American Academy of Paediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. They found that children represented about 13% of all COVID-19 cases. Children younger than ages 10 to 14 were less likely to become infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 compared to people age 20 and older.

It was noted that some children become severely ill with COVID-19. They might need to be hospitalized, treated in the intensive care unit or placed on a ventilator to help them breathe, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Children with underlying conditions, such as obesity, diabetes and asthma, are at higher risk of serious illness with COVID-19. Children who have congenital heart disease, genetic conditions or conditions affecting the nervous system or metabolism are also at higher risk of serious illness with COVID-19.

Not surprisingly, research also suggests disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19 in Hispanic and non-Hispanic black children than in non-Hispanic white children.

An important study (Demographic predictors of hospitalization and mortality in US children with COVID-19) was done in a large US cohort of confirmed COVID-19 children. Researchers (Moreira, A., Chorath, K., Rajasekaran, K. et al) found that hospitalization occurred 4.7% of the time with an in-hospital mortality rate of 0.19%.

Cases of COVID-19 were more frequently observed in children older than 10 years of age and those of Hispanic/Latino and white, non-Hispanic race/ethnicity. However, children more likely to be hospitalized or die were black, non-Hispanic and children with an underlying health condition. As discussed earlier, medical condition was the strongest risk factor for a poor outcome (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-021-03955-x).

Experts say it’s crucial to test vaccines in children through carefully designed studies. Children are not simply smaller adults, meaning it’s not safe to assume that any drug or vaccine that works well for adults will also be highly safe and effective in children.

Parents, I want you to think about this when, and if you are approached about vaccinating your child with the COVID-19 vaccine, especially if they are under the age of 16.