February 16th, 2022
Yesterday on The PediaBlog, we expressed disappointment that parents will have to wait a little longer — until April at the earliest, after Pfizer proves its vaccine is safe and effective for children under 5 years old — before their young children can be immunized against COVID-19. Dr. Leana S. Wen shares her disappointment but predicts staying patient will be worth it:
The Food and Drug Administration’s announcement that it will delay authorization of a coronavirus vaccine for children under 5 felt like a gut punch. The new timeline means my two kids and about 18 million others won’t be inoculated until mid-April at the earliest, and they probably won’t be fully vaccinated until June.
Despite my disappointment, I believe the FDA made the right decision to choose caution over expediency. Authorizing vaccines without meeting the endpoint for effectiveness could have worsened vaccine hesitancy. The FDA’s pause — especially in the face of many advocates urging quick approval — gives me even more confidence in its thorough and careful process.
Mixed messaging will only worsen vaccine hesitancy — a dangerous public health threat which goes well beyond the coronavirus pandemic — among skeptical parents, warns Dr. Wen:
Only 23 percent of 5-to-11-year-olds are fully vaccinated. For more than a year, I and other physicians have been telling patients that when federal health officials recommended the coronavirus vaccines, they hadn’t taken any shortcuts and were certain that they are safe and effective. How could we continue providing this reassurance if the vaccine for our youngest children is authorized with an asterisk — that its efficacy is pending further studies?
In addition, circumstances have changed. Omicron has peaked in most of the country, and we now know that it is milder than previous variants. The risk-benefit calculus has shifted, and there is less urgency than two months ago.
It’s abundantly clear there are a number of fact-averse parents who will reject any COVID vaccine for themselves and their children, regardless of what the doctors and the scientists say. Waiting for more definitive studies won’t be enough to reassure many of them. As a result, the rest of us will have to keep our guard up:
Don’t misunderstand me: I’m extremely frustrated that my kids remain unprotected. Their risk of contracting covid-19 will become higher as restrictions are lifted. Our family, and millions of others with young children or immunocompromised relatives, will have to keep taking additional precautions as others return to their pre-pandemic lives
I do not begrudge others of their much-deserved normalcy, even as we can’t have the same. We are still not flying to see our extended family because my daughter, who’s not yet 2, is unable to mask. We are still limiting our 4-year-old’s playdates to the outdoors. My husband and I will keep wearing our N95 and KN95 masks in indoor, public places and limiting our social contacts to others who are also vaccinated and boosted.
Parents of young kids are tired of waiting, but we have waited this long. We can wait a couple of months more for the science to catch up to our expectations.
