COVID-19 Pediatric Vaccine FAQ - East Suburban Pediatrics

COVID-19 Pediatric Vaccine

Ages 5-11 years: As of October 29th, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized by the FDA for emergency use.

Ages 12-17 years: More than 11.1 million adolescents have been vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

As of late October, over 6.3 million COVID-19 pediatric cases have been reported.
Only 43% of kids under 12 years old have natural immunity.
In 23 states, 24,073 pediatric hospitalizations have been reported.
30% of hospitalized children have no underlying medical condition.
Hospitalization rates for COVID-19 are greater than for influenza.
As of October, 5,217 MIS-C cases have been linked to COVID-19.
More than 600 children have died from COVID-19. Although this seems low compared to adults, COVID-19 is a top 10 cause of death for kids in the United States.
Long COVID-19 symptoms are reported in 7-8% of children with COVID-19.

Clinical trials in children ages 5-11 years found the vaccine to be 90.7% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19.
There were no serious COVID-19 cases in the vaccine trials.

Mild fever, fatigue, headaches, chills, diarrhea, muscle aches, and joint pain were reported in trials.
More kids reported side effects with the 2nd dose compared to the 1st dose.
Rare side effects include swollen lymph nodes and skin sensitivity.

While myocarditis (heart inflammation) has been linked to mRNA vaccines, it is very rare.
There were no cases reported in the safety trials.
We expect 26 cases of myocarditis per 1 million doses administered based on extrapolated models.
Vaccine-induced myocarditis is much milder compared to COVID19-induced myocarditis.

It’s biologically impossible for messenger RNA (mRNA) to alter DNA.
- mRNA cannot enter the cell nucleus where DNA lives.
- mRNA cannot be converted to DNA.
- mRNA cannot insert itself into the DNA.

Based on our knowledge of mRNA and the human body, we do not expect long-term effects of mRNA COVID19 vaccines.
Vaccine ingredients are cleared from the body very quickly.
- mRNA is very fragile and degrades within 72 hours of injection.
mRNA vaccines do not contain weakened, dead, or noninfectious parts of a virus.
We have more than 12 months of vaccine follow-up data so far.
Thousands of people have gotten pregnant after vaccination.
There are reports that menstrual cycles change after a COVID-19 vaccine. The body is mounting an immune response, and this is likely a temporary side-effect, like a fever.

The COVID-19 vaccines were developed rapidly in response to the global pandemic by leveraging tremendous resources, scientists, researchers, money, and decades of previous work.
Previous research (mRNA research started in 1961; first clinical trial was in 2001).
Production started before clinical trials were complete because the government financially supported the effort.
Although vaccines went through Phase I, II, and III, phases were overlapped. This is standard practice.
Over 150,000 people volunteered to participate in the U.S. trials so developers could rapidly gather the important safety and efficacy data.

Natural immunity offers some protection, but that wanes for some over time.
People who have recovered from COVID-19 have strengthened immune response from the vaccine.
Evidence shows the vaccine better protects against variants such as Delta and other variants of concern.