COVID-19 vaccines for children and teens: What we do — and don’t — know

Vaccines have been heralded as a key measure to slow the COVID-19 pandemic and one day bring it to an end. Every day, millions of American adults are receiving one of the authorized vaccines proven highly effective at preventing severe illness that might otherwise lead to hospitalizations and deaths. In the US, most people over 65 have now been fully vaccinated, protecting the most vulnerable in our population. As an infectious disease specialist, my responses to the questions below are based on what we know so far about infection and vaccines in children and teens. We’ll need to continue filling in gaps as research is done and our understanding evolves. What do we know about how COVID-19 affects children and teens? Most COVID-19 infections in children are mild or cause no obvious symptoms. However, a small percentage of infected children develop a serious inflammatory condition called MIS-C in the two to six weeks following COVID-19 infection. This may happen even in children who have mild symptoms or no symptoms. get very sick and need hospitalization or intensive care. Over 400 children have died from COVID-19 infection. That’s greater than the number of childhood deaths during the deadliest flu season in the past two decades. Vaccinating children to prevent these outcomes is one of the most important reasons driving vaccine studies in children. Further, vaccinating children will be critical to achieving a population-wide level of immunity — herd immunity — suffi...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Adolescent health Children's Health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs