Setting the Record Straight about COVID-19 Vaccines for Children

Common sense and our experience show that prevention is much better than treatment. Gone are the days of children paralyzed from polio. Gone are the days of many children having devastating meningitis. Gone are the days of not being able prevent hundreds of children per year dying from influenza. Such is the value of preventative medicine, especially due to vaccination. Like most things in medicine, we must balance the risks and benefits in making decisions for all patients, especially children. Early in our response to COVID-19, we had to make decisions with incomplete information. Two years of both providing care and conducting research has provided us with extensive information about COVID-19. The medical and scientific communities have also given us clear facts to set the record straight about the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccines in children. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Sadly, in the U.S. there have been more than 1000 pediatric deaths and more than 7,400 cases of children with the unusual condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MISC) due to COVID-19. We also are just learning about long-COVID in children, many of whom have not been hospitalized, and may have extreme fatigue, headaches, and “brain-fog,” which can persist for months after COVID-19. For individuals less than 15 years old, COVID-19 is now the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.. In comparison, when there is a very bad influenza year, up to 200 ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news