Dr Alison Vickers and Dr Rowan Vickers answer some of the questions parents have been asking
From 13 September, you will be able to book Pfizer Covid vaccine appointments for all 12 to 15 year old children. ATAGI, a group of medical experts, has looked at all the available medical information and now support vaccination of 12 to 15 year olds with Pfizer. While this is very reassuring, it is a hard decision for a parent to make as everything about COVID has been uncertain. We try to answer some of the very reasonable questions parents have been asking.
Do children get COVID badly, and can they die?
Children do get COVID, but most children have only very mild infections. A small number suffer complications and need hospital admission. On 6 September 2021, from the NSW government website, there were 61609 cases of COVID in Australia. About 20% of these cases were in people under twenty. Of every 100 children with COVID, two to three needed to be admitted to hospital but there has been only one death in Australia. In the UK in 2020, one in 5000 children who caught COVID became seriously ill and there were around 2 deaths from COVID per million children less than 18.
In most cases deaths and hospitalisations are in children with underlying health problems. However, there is a very rare but serious complication of COVID 19 called Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome that mainly affects healthy children. It is an inflammation that occurs weeks after a COVID infection and has been described as being similar to “toxic shock syndrome”. Some studies report it to happen to 3 per 1000 children infected with COVID, with most needing hospitalisation and a death rate of 2%. ATAGI anticipates that vaccinating will help to prevent infections and complications such as Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome.
What are the risks of my child developing LONG COVID from a COVID infection?
Long COVID is a concern for many parents. Long COVID is ongoing symptoms such as fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating that continue for months after a COVID infection. Some early studies were quite concerning that close to 50% of children who had even mild symptoms of COVID had ongoing symptoms after eight weeks. There has more recently been a very reassuring study from Melbourne. One hundred and fifty-one children with known COVID had no ongoing symptoms after 8 weeks. Similarly, in a UK study 1734 children aged 5-17 followed up eight weeks after COVID had no more symptoms than children who had tested negative for COVID. Studies must always compare to children who did not have COVID as some of the lockdown measures and the anxiety around COVID have significant effects on children.
Is my child more at risk of serious problems with COVID if they have asthma?
Complications from COVID infection do not appear to be more likely in people/children who have asthma. People with asthma may even have slightly less risk of some of the severe complications of COVID. See our article on Asthma and COVID
Is the vaccine safe and effective in children?
The vaccine seems to be safe and effective. In a recent study of 2260 12 to 15 year olds, there were no serious side effects. The vaccine provided a better immune response and protection against COVID infections than in adults. Myocarditis and pericarditis are inflammation of the heart muscle or the outer lining of the heart. This can be a complication of COVID infection but can also occur after the Pfizer/Moderna mRNA vaccines and can be a side effect in children. Overall figures suggest that after second dose of vaccine in people aged 12-29 there are around 40 cases per million males and 4 per million females. Although hospital admission may be needed, there is almost always full recovery. See our article on Myocarditis/Pericarditis and the vaccine
Will vaccinating my child protect other family members?
Children may only have mild COVID infections or no symptoms at all, but they are still infectious. They can infect others, including teachers and members of the family.
There is growing evidence that the vaccine significantly reduces how infective you are to others, even if you have an infection with no symptoms. Vaccinated young people are less likely to be infective and pass COVID on to family members and their community.
Can we be certain there won’t be any long term effects on my child from a COVID vaccine
COVID has been around for less than two years. Vaccines were developed amazingly fast, and we have not had time to know whether there will be long term effects. However, a lot of money and expertise has gone into ensuring they are safe. Trials on children have only really got underway this year. No one can guarantee there will be no long term effects. However, it is reassuring that medical experts who understand how mRNA works and have studied the trials believe there will be no long-term effects.
Why aren’t they vaccinating 12 to15 year old in the UK
Every step of COVID is uncertain as we try to make decisions based on available information and vaccination in 12 to 15 year old is no different. The USA, Canada, Singapore and the Philippines are vaccinating all 12 to 15 year olds. Whereas the UK are currently only vaccinating 12 to 15 year olds with underlying health problems or with an at-risk family member. We believe this advice will change. If however, entire countries with multiple medical experts still have differing views, it is very understandable that parents have doubts and questions as they try to make the best decision for their 12 to 15 year old.
Would we vaccinate our child?
After spending days pouring over all this information and asking all of these questions, we would make the decision to vaccinate our 12 to 15 year old. We will be recording a PODCAST looking at all these questions in detail and this will be available next week.
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