COVID-19 Vaccine: Parents Plead Experts To Vaccinate Kids 12 Below

Parents are asking for children under the age of 12 to be vaccinated against the virus as COVID-19 instances among children increase, Washington Post said.

Parents Lie To Physicians To Get Their Kids Vaccinated

COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of 12 have yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Despite the absence of FDA clearance, a Los Angeles physician who wants to remain anonymous told Insider that some parents have lately begun requesting to have their children vaccinated under the age of 12.

Meanwhile, Baltimore physician Jason Goldstein, whose 11-year-old son is at risk for severe COVID-19, told the Post that he’s following the rules. But he heard anecdotally of parents lying about their children’s ages to the vaccinations.

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 14: Lenox Hill Hospital Chair of Emergency Medicine Yves Duroseau receives the COVID-19 vaccine from Doctor Michelle Chester at Long Island Jewish Medical Center on December 14, 2020 in New Hyde Park on Long Island, New York. The first vaccination was administered to Registered Nurse Sandra Lindsay, with Governor Andrew Cuomo attending the event remotely via video conference. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)

Goldstein told the Post that all parents desire the greatest protection for their children. Goldstein said that as much as doctors want to do it, they also want to do it in the safest manner possible. He went on to say that they would have to wait for the data to come in.

In addition, the LA doctor told Insider that he’s heard of parents lying about their children’s ages to have them vaccinated. However, he said that when those children are eligible for a vaccination, whatever previous injections they may have had would not be counted against their record.

CDC Says Administering COVID-19 Jabs To Kids Under 12 Might Need A Different Vaccine Dosage

The CDC has also advised against vaccinating individuals who have not yet been authorized for the vaccine, stating that children under the age of 12 may need a different vaccine dosage and that adverse effects for minors are yet unclear.

READ ALSO: COVID-19 Vaccines Effectiveness Decline, Boosters are Now Recommended

According to the LA doctor, the majority of children who test positive for COVID-19 suffer a minor sickness comparable to a cold. However, when schools reopen and students gather more, routine colds and flus become more common, causing more children to see their doctor.

Every time a kid comes in with cold symptoms, he or she must be tested to rule out COVID-19 before being allowed to return to school, according to him. While the LA doctor observed little frequent sickness while the students were at home, he noted that children usually become sick with a cold eight to ten times each year, requiring them to be tested that many times.

Now, he claims he’s inundated with ill children who need to be tested for COVID-19. According to him, the incidence of COVID-19 infection among his patients was proportional to the pace of community dissemination. Currently, approximately a tenth of the children that come in ill get a positive test.

Pediatricians Warn On Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccinations

As increasing parents urge physicians to vaccinate their children under the age of 12, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a warning against doing so before FDA clearance.

“We do not want individual physicians to be calculating doses and dosing schedules one-by-one for younger children based on the experience with the vaccine in older patients,” Yvonne Maldonado, MD chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, told Time Magazine. 

She emphasized that the vaccines are based on all available evidence for each age group and that the trials must be finished in order for this to happen.

She recognized that parents are concerned about their children’s safety. Experts, however, want to make sure that youngsters get the full benefit of current scientific studies, she emphasized.

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