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SALT LAKE CITY — Vaccines for children between 6 months and 5 years old are expected to be available in Utah beginning in the middle of next week.
Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah and director of epidemiology at Primary Children's Hospital, said that if he had grandchildren he would be getting them vaccinated.
"As a parent, it would be a no-brainer for me," Pavia said.
The vaccine is not quite approved, according to Pavia. The FDA authorized the immunization shots for the youngest children Friday; the final step will be for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend the dosing and receive a signoff from the director of the CDC, which is expected Saturday. Then vaccinations can be transported to Utah.
The vaccines will be given to pediatricians and family practitioners so parents can take their children to where they are used to getting vaccinations, but it will also be available at some pharmacies and at health departments. Pavia expects the Salt Lake County Health Department will have the vaccines by Tuesday.
Pavia said that this is a really big step and will help many parents who have been eagerly waiting for their children to be able to receive the vaccine.
"We've had several months now in which there's been a lot of disease out there and younger children have not had any vaccine available to provide them protection. ... This has caused a lot of heartache for parents," Pavia said.
He said vaccinations will not be required for children; it will be a choice for parents to make while consulting with their health care providers.
"I think it's really a decision that every parent needs to be able to make," he said.
COVID poses actually a much bigger risk to your child than any of the diseases that you routinely bring them in to get vaccinated for.
–Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah and director of epidemiology at Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital
The vaccine, like the one for adults, will have some side effects including soreness at the vaccine site or possible swelling of lymph nodes. Pavia said what can be more worrisome in children is fever and irritability. Roughly 8% of children who received the Pfizer vaccine in tests had a fever and roughly 15% of children who received the Moderna vaccine had a fever, likely because it is a larger dose, Pavia said.
He said studies have shown that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are as effective in young children as they are in young adults. The Pfizer dose for children under 5 will be one-tenth of the dose given to adults and a complete vaccination includes three doses, while the Moderna dose is one-fourth of an adult dose and two doses are considered a complete vaccination. Official recommendations on the number of doses will be made after it is officially recommended, Pavia said.
It is relatively rare for children to die of COVID-19. Pavia said there were 202 confirmed deaths in children between 1 and 4, and 210 in infants younger than 6 months, but COVID-19 is still the fifth- and fourth-leading cause of death for those age groups.
He said that though deaths are not a huge worry from COVID-19 in children, any death of a child is significant. He also noted that deaths from COVID-19 in children is higher than deaths from other diseases before vaccines were developed for them, including hepatitis A and rubella, and said the vaccine is just as safe as those other vaccines.
"COVID poses actually a much bigger risk to your child than any of the diseases that you routinely bring them in to get vaccinated for," Pavia said.
He said during the recent rises in cases there have been more COVID-19 hospitalizations among children who are younger than 5 than children in other age groups, since they have not been able to have the vaccine.
During the omicron variant, Pavia said, about 15% of emergency room visits from children were due to COVID-19, which is several million visits around the country.
"It's a myth that children don't get sick with COVID, because they do. We've seen it, it's been pretty tragic," he said.
Natural immunity from getting COVID-19 can be effective, but Pavia said that it is not "some kind of magical immunity," and varies based on how sick a person was, how old they are and how long ago they were infected.
He said that a CDC study said 70% of children have encountered COVID-19 at least once, according to a CDC study, although the study may overestimate the number because tests were done on discarded blood samples from children receiving medical care. Pavia said exposure to COVID-19 does provide some immunity, although for him it is not enough immunity to skip vaccination.
