KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pediatricians are recommending parents vaccinate their children against COVID-19 after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday gave final authorization for child-sized doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Dr. Joseph Childs, the Chief Medical Officer at East Tennessee Children's Hospital, said parents with children ages 5 to 11 should take the CDC's advice and get the coronavirus vaccine.
The FDA authorized the lower-dose Pfizer COVID vaccine for use among 5 to 11, and the CDC recommended kids that age get the shot.
"There's no question the vaccine itself has proven itself to be very effective," said Dr. Childs. "There weren't any serious side effects in the trial."
The CDC said children in the vaccine trials had minor symptoms that were typical with most people who've received the vaccine: pain, redness and swelling on the arm. Tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea are also possible, the CDC said.
"That can happen with any vaccine," Dr. Childs said.
Since May, the CDC has been tracking rare cases of myocarditis, or temporary inflammation of the heart muscle, potentially linked to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that were reported to the VAERS database by a small number of young adults and older male adolescents who received the vaccine. No definitive relationship between the vaccine and the side effect have been determined, but rare and mostly-mild cases were noted in studies being conducted in Israel as being potentially linked primarily to younger men in their 20s and teens a few days after they received their second dose.
Acute myocarditis has also been investigated as a potentially rare side effect reported with several other vaccines such as the tetanus, smallpox and flu -- and is believed to be due to a hypersensitive immune response in a small fraction of people.
Dr. Childs said he saw no evidence of myocarditis in the vaccine trial for pre-adolescent kids, though. He said the heart inflammation was usually mild for the people who reported issues, and less likely for younger kids and older adults.
For parents who are hesitant, Dr. Childs recommends they contact their child's physician.
"It's good for parents to be very sober in their judgement about the vaccine," Dr. Childs said. "There's a lot of reasons to really consider getting that vaccine."
Dr. Childs said even though COVID infection in kids is usually mild, some of the rare complications associated with infection may not be as mild. He points to MIS-C (Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome) and long COVID. Dr. Childs said getting kids the vaccine is also better for the entire community in the long-term to prevent kids from spreading it to others.
"Having more immunity across Knox County and across East Tennessee," said Dr. Childs. "[The virus] is no longer coming in contact with people who can get it and then spread it."
The East Tennessee Children's Hospital is not currently vaccinating kids aged 5-11. Dr. Childs said the vaccine is distributed to pediatricians' offices, so parents should talk with their child's pediatrician.
The Knox County Health Department said they were awaiting doses of the vaccine for kids.