ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pfizer on Tuesday submitted topline data to the FDA of its COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old.
What You Need To Know
- Right now, the vaccination rate for teens in Florida is about 50 percent
- Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Perno explained it’s all about education
- Minds are changed usually after a hospital visit, said the doctor
- SEE ALSO: Bereavement counselors seeing more cases of prolonged grief due to COVID-19 deaths
Emergency Use Authorization for this age group will likely happen soon.
Families are split on that issue.
An Axios-Ipsos poll also published today found the split to be 44% in favor vs. 42% opposed.
It's similar to a recent survey in August by the American Academy of Pediatrics which also found 12% of parent's still unsure.
Right now, the vaccination rate for teens in Florida is about 50 percent.
How are doctors engaging parents on this topic? The question of whether a child should get a vaccine is frankly not a new one for pediatricians.
They're used to engaging in this conversation.
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Perno explained it’s all about education.
“It's about educating them. And parents seem to understand the benefits of the vaccine and how it could protect their child, their prized possession by the way,” said Dr. Perno. “And the risks of the vaccine which we now know are very, very limited and then the risks of the vaccine which we have seen as being great in children.”
Dr. Perno said anecdotally the kids who have been hospitalized have been the ones who are not vaccinated whether they were because they chose not to or because they couldn't.
“Those are the populations that are in the hospital," he said.
Minds are changed usually after a hospital visit, said the doctor.
Pfizer plans to send a formal EUA request for the 5 to 11 year old vaccine in the coming weeks.
Another way of getting kids vaccinated are through mandates which would be months away when full approval is granted.
With a half a dozen vaccines already mandatory for kids in schools and several court decisions spanning more than 100 years upholding these mandates, what are courts looking at when deciding on an eventual COVID-19 vaccine mandate?
USF’s Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy and Practice at the Morsani College of Medicine Dr. Jay Wolfson explained.
"When we're looking at how a legal system views mandates, if you will, you say what is the relative good to be achieved by this and does it outweigh the individual right and prerogative," said Dr. Wolfson.