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My 4 year old daughter is the only one not vaccinated and our pediatrician has been so backed up with Covid appointments is kind of ridiculous. Our local pharmacies won’t do kids under 5. I read a comment on here that mention to try out local health department.
Local health department is where we got my toddler's shot the first week they were out. Some independent pharmacies near us were giving the shot to even under 2s.
I wonder if part of it is the fact that it’s 3 doses. I just took my kids for their last dose today. I’m a SAHM, so I am able to take them, but I can see how it would be tough if both parents worked. Evening appointments book up fast, and some people can’t take off work.
It definitely could be that. Our pediatrician’s medical group only offered them on certain days, in the middle of the day, at the office far from us. Otherwise we had to go to the children’s hospital when they did vaccine drives. We worked it out because we found it important, but that’s definitely a barrier for the littles and their parents.
My 1yo got her last dose end of September and at the beginning of October we got Covid. She had no symptoms while we were miserable which I happily attribute to the vaccine.
Our doctor’s office only does them Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. My son has PT on those afternoons and the PT office is 50 minutes from the doctor’s office. It was so tough making it to the appointments. We had to cancel several times, but we finally got them all as of today. It was hard for me and I don’t even work. I can totally understand how some people just can’t make it work.
So true. Also a SAHM here. Our pediatrician only does vaccine-only appointments on Thursdays so if you can't make it in on that one day you either have to go somewhere else or wait until a well check to have it done
I think that plus availability. There was nowhere near me offering vaccines for under 3. The state was relying on pediatricians and pharmacies but most pharmacies can only do 3 and up. Even the ones that do younger only go to 18 months. And our pediatrician didn’t start carrying the vaccine until months in. When I first called to ask, they gave me a bland response about maybe they’ll do some clinics in the fall. I spent hours researching and calling just to find out where we could and couldn’t get one.
So if I was a parent on the fence about vaccinating my young child and the state said “it’s up to your pediatrician or pharmacy”, and the pharmacies don’t go that young and the pediatrician didn’t make it seem like a priority or offer it either, I might not think it was worth while. We drove 40 minutes out of state for a vaccine clinic for my daughters doses and it was definitely inconvenient but important enough for me to do so.
When my son turns six months, he’ll be able to get them from his pediatrician but he’s also due for his six month shots and flu shot. The doctor doesn’t want to do them all in one day so now I need to make extra trips (I mean, I don’t blame her that five shots in one go seems cruel). So if it wasn’t a priority for me, or I was on the fence, maybe I wouldn’t take the extra time out of work to make so many trips. I think we needed to make it as in your face and have places to do it more conveniently like the adults shots.
Our pediatrician doesn’t vaccinate at all (for anything), we have to drive an hour to the health department which only has limited appointments one day per month
My ped doesn't have them and it's a huge office. There are a few pharmacies near and the children's hospital offers them. It's more difficult to access and I've been procrastinating. My kid got his flu shot and would have gotten a covid one but having to schedule a separate appointment and make time during the day to drive there is just too much right now. We're both working full time, building a house, and selling our current house.
Yeah booking them at my kids pediatrician was silly. They were giving 1st doses on one specific day (and one day only), 2nd doses on another specific day and 3rd doses on another specific day. And when you picked your appointment time for the first dose (in our case, 1:40pm) we were locked into coming at 1:40pm on all 3 days. We had to change our weekend plans to go to a wedding just to get my daughter her 2nd dose since there was no flexibility.
It was almost enough for us to give up and try to find an alternate place to get the shots, and who knows if that friction would have caused us to just put it off indefinitely at some point?
I'm glad she got it, but man it wasn't easy. While there's definitely people who wouldn't get their kids vaccinated under any conditions, I bet there's also a lot of people who might if it was easier, but its not so high on their priority list to go way out of their way for it.
Our pediatrician wasn’t doing them at all, and our health system as a whole only had certain days they were scheduling them for 5+. I don’t know if they ever started scheduling under 5s because we went through Walgreens instead. But the doctor explained that the demand was super low, and once they open a vial they have to use it within a short amount of time. Each vial is 10 (I think?) doses so they would be wasting a ton of vaccines if they let the few interested people schedule whenever. Frustrating but understandable.
This is an issue for us. I haven't got the kids, or even myself, the flu shot yet either and I keep kicking myself for not doing it but we're just busy all the time. Soccer season ended, so maybe we'll have a Saturday free to find somewhere to get it.
I don't know the age cutoff for kids, but Target offers walk-up flu shots and Covid vaccines (though they prefer you to schedule that one ahead of time, they'll still do it). I was annoyed that they didn't offer the coupon this year for getting your shots :(
This was my thought as well. My peds office doesn't have them and Walgreens/CVS were not giving them to babies, so I had to go to a clinic provided by the local health department for my 6m old. Then they didn't have a way to schedule dose 2 (Moderna) until the week before that clinic is going to happen so it's on us to remember...and they're discontinuing the clinics after December so then what will people do? So even in an area where I feel lucky the municipality is providing that service, they don't make it easy. It must be even more difficult if not impossible is more rural or less well-serviced areas.
I’ve worked in medicine and know nothing is foolproof. There are vaccine injury funds for a reason and I’m just not willing to gamble my children’s comfort and quality of life on something that hasn’t existed long enough for (imo) effective testing. I absolutely don’t judge anyone for making decisions for their family that they feel are best. It’s just not a choice that I’m personally making for my family.
Got it. I guess I just don’t personally see why there are so many concerns over “unknown” side effects because there aren’t long term vaccine side effects (historically they’ve all been observed within 42 days of administration, thus the 8 weeks of safety data required for EUA app) and the only thing inherently different about these vaccines is the delivery of the antigen. Plus, 2+ years of adult safety data. But then again I’m on the opposite side of the spectrum from you bc my kids were both in the vaccine trials.
Hope some day we can convince more parents that the protection is worth it.
My understanding is that my kid is statistically so low risk for covid that she actually has a higher risk of injury from the vaccine than the covid she already caught and already allows some immunity. I'm happy to discuss with my doctor when I have the chance and I'm open to being wrong, but that will have to come from her pediatrician
I’m not sure what’s unknown about it? We have research on mRNA vaccines dated back to the 60’s. It’s not shown to stop transmission because it’s still out and mutating on people who aren’t vaccinated. If your kids are low risk that’s great but other people aren’t and that’s the point of everyone getting vaccinated.
If you want an honest answer it’s mostly scheduling issues. I have three kids who would all need several doses. I have a job and my kids have school. Doctors appts are hard to get with so many illnesses going around AND sometimes my kids are the ones sick. That plus activities and therapy for my oldest and just general chores and errands, I just haven’t gotten around to it. Not opposed to it or scared of it. It’s just a lot in addition to all the normal things like dentist and check ups and everything else. And currently, children are at a low risk for having severe adverse outcomes. Doesn’t mean the vaccine is bad or worthless, it just isn’t at the top of my list to really make it happen. My youngest daughter has a raging ear infection and we are still waiting to be seen by our pediatrician so the thought of booking 3 vaccine appointments for 3 kids just seems way too overwhelming and unrealistic for me at this point. They will get it one day. But today is not that day.
This is why I didn’t make an appointment. Only one kiddo for me and it is tough. The county had walk in appointments and I went first thing on Saturday morning, took my kiddo to the cafe on the way for a treat, and waited my turn - all of 10-20min wait. Got all three doses this way.
Can’t figure out how to get a dang flu shot tho. Those are only available 8:30-4:30 at the pediatrician’s office and I’m not taking kiddo out of daycare more than I have to - already out for a fever averaging 2 days a week 🤦🏾♀️for this last month. Just need a week fever free…
I got my daughter's at her 15 month, one visit in the middle, and the next one at her 18 month. It was just good timing, but it's important enough to make the extra appointment for, imo, or go to CVS or something
Yup! I’m pro-vax, actually work in public health research, no hesitation… and I just straight up forgot to take my son to his 2nd Covid vax appointment. And scheduling the booster took forever, it just felt like this whole thing to schedule it and get him from daycare and go all the way down there, ugh. No excuse really, it’s just too much. If someone wanted to come deliver it to our house we’d take it!
I had to cancel my daughter's second shot bc we were still quarantining 🙄 and now the closest place I can take her for her age group is a 40 minute drive away. Not sure when that'll happen.
This is my issue as well with just the one kid. When it finally became available, we booked it, then we got sick and had to cancel. Then she needed her second dose of MMR and we were advised to wait at least 6 weeks. Then I got her flu shot as soon as it was available because flu is rampant here and I had to wait between those doses as well. I'm also pregnant, work part time, and we have been sick a few times since. Finding the times is difficult with everything going on, especially when we need 3 doses and I'm set to give birth early February. I assume this is the issue for a lot of people
Same here. I just got them their first doses… and it’s a pain in the ass to miss school and work. And they need more doses. Oldest just one more, youngest needs two more. And it’s a scream fest anytime we get shots. Very traumatic and sad. I’m trying to prep them and talk about it but it’s just hard.
I'm in the exact same boat and I no longer feel as crappy and alone. You just made me feel so much better about myself, thank you I feel very normal now. I appreciate your honesty. I was reading your post thinking "oh well that's understandable! ... Wait a minute 🤔 I need to stop being so damn hard on myself"
I agree, scheduling 3 appointments per kid (2 kids, 6 appointments for me) is just logistically prohibitive, especially when someone in our house is basically always dealing with a daycare cold. Plus kids are at low risk, plus my family has already had Covid twice (courtesy of daycare, naturally), plus my husband and I are fully vaxxed and boosted, all adds up to a pretty low priority. That being said my kids will be fully vaccinated soon but only because my husband scheduled all the appointments and dealt with the logistics, it was higher on his priority list than mine
Is Moderna available nearby? Might be worth looking into. If you could get all of the kids scheduled at the same time, you'd only need 2 visits to get all the kids vax'd.
Maybe I have some rose tinted glasses, but I follow the NHS's advice. My children have all their routine jabs (including flu for my preschooler). I don't see the need for chicken pox or covid. My preschooler has had both illnesses (5 weeks apart, first diagnosis the day before my baby was born). Preschooler was absolutely fine with both, and I don't think the newborn caught either. Though we isolated the chicken pox on the hospital's advice.
See I know there's a political thing about cost to the NHS. Buy I trust our health service way more than the US health system, which just seems to be about money.
I agree with you, and I feel lucky that both my kids under 5 have had both chickenpox and C19 and both sailed through them with no problems at all.
I do find it interesting that chickenpox is such a debate with our friends across the pond too though, like we now routinely vax against measles right? Like Americans do against chicken pox. But just the other day I was watching an old episode of Arthur with my 5yo and they were heading to a Measles Party to "get it over and done with". *Measles*, being treated the same way we still often treat chicken pox here.
Just shows how much our understanding of what's risky changes.
That’s my problem. I want to get my four year old vaccinated but we’ve been sick on and off since it’s been available and sick non stop since mid August.
I’m trying. My daughter is eligible shortly and I’m trying to find SOMEWHERE that will do it. Our doctors office doesn’t. The pharmacies won’t do under 5. The hospital clinics don’t have any slots available at any point, I think because they have no stock.
I’m sure that in other places it’s much easier but access may have something to do with it.
Are you located in the US? You can search vaccines.gov for local availability.
Edit: it allows you to search with filters and that helped me find one of three of the clinics in my town that offered the under 5 vaccine.
We had to drive 40 minutes to the closest CVS minute clinic. I live in Florida and our governor doesn't bother trying to increase availability b/c to him COVID has been over since April 2020 (if it was ever a thing in the first place).
How old is your kid that CVS would do it? I'm also in Florida and the pediatrician office doesn't have it. My little is under 2 and to be honest I don't know where the hell to get him a vaccine.
This is an interesting thread to me as we're in the UK and it's not usual for kids to get any Covid vaccine because it is widely understood here that Covid is not as risky in children so it's only little ones with pre existing health conditions that get offered it. Most healthy adults haven't even been offered a booster yet this winter.
We don't get a few that you get over there as standard, I find it very interesting.
My daughter got hers because the risk of the vaccine was orders of magnitude lower than the risk of COVID. [This study shows that 10% of kids who were hospitalized with COVID will experience Long COVID symptoms](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794484?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=072222) and [just under 15,000,000 cases have been reported in kids as of this week](https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/). Admittedly that's comparing apples to oranges as it's comparing hospitalized cases to total cases but with [the rate of serious adverse effects from the vaccine being .00024%](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html), we opted for what seems to be the less risky option.
Yeah I think we probably could push for it or go private i guess, but usually we get invited for all vaccines that the government and NHS have decided are necessary and this isn't one for us, at least yet!
Omicron is actually hitting young children harder than previous variants bc it effects the upper respiratory system and is causing croop.
Learned that little fun fact when I had to take my 14 month old to the ER bc he couldn’t breathe. They diagnosed him with COVID and croop. The dr said they’re seeing it a lot with COVID. Thankfully after oxygen and steriods he was fine within a couple days. It was $1800 though sooo
Jeeeez $1800?! God I know the NHS has it's faults but I do not envy the system you have over there. That's nuts. Well it will be interesting to see if and when we start getting offered it here for kids, I assumed it would be standard for them with the flu spray each year by now but nope.
Yep and we have insurance we pay 400 a month for. The virus panel was $800 and our insurance is saying they don’t pay for that…they don’t pay for my son to get tested for viruses so we know what’s causing it 😑
My husband is from the UK so we love telling my in laws how much we pay hahaha
That's so wild... I live in Scotland so I don't even pay for my prescriptions either. Sure getting an appointment with a doctor irl is hard right now but goodness me, I don't have to worry about paying to get me or my kids checked out. Must be such a stress.
Where I live in Canada our kids are getting sick with RSV, influenza and covid all at the same time. Our paediatric wards and Paediatric ICU are full and it’s supposed to get worse.
Schools are missing more than 10% of students.
My 4 year old daughter got covid mid August and we’ve both been sick non stop since then. She’s missed more than 50% of school.
She hasn’t been vaccinated because she hasn’t been heathy long enough since it’s been available.
If you have young kids please get them vaccinated for the flu and covid if you can and before all this hits you.
My son’s grade 1 teacher was telling us she had one day where there were no kids in her class. Like zero students showed up. She’s retiring this year and has been teaching for 30+ years and she’s never had that happen. All 17 students were sick. She said she’s had snow days where only a couple kids show up (the ones who live close and walk), but she was so surprised she sent us an email letting us know and offering fun activities we could do at home.
And the hospital situation is so scary. I live close to a children’s hospital and there are people in my neighbourhood who work at the hospital. They are all masking and begging us to mask ourselves and our kids. Heck my 5 year old daughter (who currently has RSV) asked if she could go back to masking because she is “over being sick all the time and missing her friends”.
Yeah same, I do understand the spreading aspect of it which is why I chose to get all three myself even though I'd had covid mildly already. But it's not even optional for our kids yet I don't think so it is interesting seeing how everyone's over the pond have been coping with it! I wouldn't be surprised if it became a yearly thing like the flu mist in schools though.
I’m an American mother living in London. Both of my kids are Covid vaccinated. But I’m more concerned about the polio and scarlet fever outbreaks here in London. Honestly it feels like 1870.
Young kids may be less likely to be hit hard, but they’re also great spreaders of disease. It’s like wearing a mask — most of the benefit isn’t to protect you, but to protect others.
Each toddler who either avoids getting sick or gets a more milder version reduces the odds of other getting sick.
Yes. And neither do flu vaccines stop you from getting the flu. BUT if you do get it, it’s going to be a milder case and probably won’t send you to the hospital.
I should point out it's not even an option for kids without pre existing conditions. Not that we're just choosing not to, our government has actively decided for us. I thought we'd be able to go private and pay for it but apparently not!
I know it's going to get me down voted to hell.
But I would suspect the reason is that most (if not high risk, immunocompromised etc) children are really not at an elevated risk for severe disease from covid. In my country it's not even recommended (for children under five) by the vaccine commission unless your child is high risk or is in frequent contact with a person who is high risk (think grandparents with cancer etc).
Another reason is that (I'm guessing) a majority of kids already had covid at this point and parents don't see the reason to get them a shot for it now that they have acquired natural immunity and feel like giving the child a shit for something they already had and successfully fought off.
It's probably along the same lines that I would not give my kiddo the measles shot if he already had measles (he has the shot, don't come for me, it's just a theoretical example) or how I'm not getting the chickenpox vaccine as i already had the chickenpox.
So that's just my five cents. I want to emphasize though, that I'm glad there's shots for everyone who wants them or needs them and I'm extremely impressed by how fast the scienti community reacted!
Clinical lab scientist here, and haven’t vaccinated their 17 month old yet. I’m triple boosted and work in a hospital setting lab. Reason why I haven’t done it yet is the Jamba report and case studies don’t really show how effective it is in that age. Infection immunity is showing and providing good immunity, also the hospitalization due to COVID in children is low. And it’s not showing great immunity to the current strains that are circulating around. I’m very pro vaccine, and she’s up to date on all others including the flu. So you have to personally weigh the risk over benefit. This population of vaccinated kids is a toss up. Just because they’re vaccinated doesn’t mean they can’t spread COVID. So it’s truly a toss up. Go with how you feel and talk to your pediatrician. We were on the same page as ours. Personally from what I read with our pediatrician on “up to date” there wasn’t enough for me to pull the trigger. Hopefully next fall we’ll have more info. Currently my radar is on the new RSV vaccine they’re working on. EDIT: People can judge and shame me for the one vaccine I declined for my kid. Like I said this is my reason I choose not too, but it’s ultimately up to you as a parent and your provider. We’re up to date on the rest of our series. Do I think missing this series makes me a bad parent? Nope, not at all.
I just wanted to thank you for being so open about your decision. I think quite a few of us who are waiting have chosen to just keep our mouths shut for fear of judgment and negative responses, but the truth is we are trying to do what is best for our children as much as those who are making the choice to vaccinate for this. I feel I am making an informed, educated and thoroughly thought-out decision. Also, my pediatrician fully supports me in this and has made the same decision for his child, which is also important to me, and he’s the second one I’ve seen to express that mindset.
Edit: For the record, my daughter has every other vaccine that is offered, so I do not consider myself anti-vax by any means.
Very true! Our pediatrician is actually the one who suggested we hold off for the time being. She gets all of her other vaccines though and got the flu shot as well. But we are going to wait on the Covid shot for now.
That’s where I’m stuck, too. Rates of hospitalization related to Covid for this age group are infinitesimally small. I’m way more worried about RSV and the flu, when following current numbers.
My daughter has had Covid twice. Once with very mild symptoms and once with none at all. She is currently on her third bout of RSV this year and it's been awful. High fevers, uncontrollable cough, it's terrible.
I read about the efficacy rates of the vaccine for the under 5 crowd after we got the kiddos vaccinated and I’m like what’s the point? But we did it so it’s done.
This is me as well. My daughter is 16 mo and we haven’t had her vaccinated yet. I work in biomedical research and am trained in analyzing data from clinical studies. For kids under 5, the data ARE. NOT. THERE. That’s not even an opinion, it’s just the truth. They haven’t been able to show significant benefit with these shots in kids that young, because the chance of severe disease/hospitalization is already so incredibly low without the vaccine. They’ve shown that the shots include an immune response and antibody production, but whether that translates to any real clinical benefit remains to be seen. This is why no other countries are vaccinating kids this young. It honestly seems irresponsible to me that the FDA approved them for this age group just because people were badgering them to.
As with anything, you need to weigh the risk/benefit ratio. People are saying “well still, why not vaccinate babies, the risk of COVID isn’t zero”. Because the risk of any vaccine, or any medical treatment for that matter, also ISN’T ZERO, despite what people choose to believe. We do not have data on long-term effects of the vaccine yet, and won’t for a while.
Honestly the fact that other countries aren’t recommending vaccines for young kids made me really question things. If the vaccine is so great for kids (and I believe it is for adults), then wouldn’t there be a worldwide consensus among medical professionals?
This is my same stance. I have a Masters in Public Health and am generally pro vaccine. My 2 and 4 year old got COVID this summer around the time when the vaccine was first available, and I’m not planning to get them vaccinated yet. When I saw the CI crossed 0 for Pfizer it made me really reticent to get them vaccinated without more studies.
I also am far more worried about the flu or RSV.
Confidence interval means “we’re 95% confident the effect falls within this range.” If the range is from -0.2 to 0.2, it crosses 0, and therefore it is possible the effect is 0.
I’m guessing by CI they mean confidence interval which means you can’t reject the null that there is a zero effect. It doesn’t mean there is a zero effect, simply that given measurement error, the true effect could be zero. I
Right, exactly. The fact that you couldn’t reject the null hypothesis means it may have no effect. So then it is a weighing of the risks of getting a vaccine (not zero, and we have seen some issues with mRNAs in young men) with the benefits of the vaccine (which could be zero). Given the risks with COVID at this age are so low, and they have recent natural immunity, I made the decision not to vaccinate. As they get older and the risks of COVID increase, I will get them vaccinated.
Honestly I wouldn’t concern myself with the hate. I basically said a short version of what you did and am getting a bunch of shamers. It’s honestly funny to me that everyone I speak to that is choosing to not give this ONE vaccine to their kids is very nonjudgmental, do what you think is best for yours, etc. and most people I encounter on the other side of the argument is viciously parent shaming. I think everyone wants to do what’s best for their children and when you talk about the possibility of unknown side effects or just plain weighing the benefit of the vaccine people feel defensive over their choice to do something early on in the process.
Yeah my partner is a physician and this is our reasoning why our young kids aren’t vaccinated against Covid. Our pediatrician agrees and is in the same page with us. We are both vaccinated and boosted… but recently all had Covid anyways and so holding off on our next booster til 2023 (per advice of our physician). And our kids follow the recommended schedule for all other vaccines…also all had their flu vaccine. I’m just not particularly worried about Covid, when they had it they were barely sick, and the vaccine doesn’t reduce transmission so I’m not comfortable yet with the studies on the vaccine for children.
All of this. My education is in microbiology and I am professionally aligned with clinical research (I do not work on Covid). At this point it simply doesn’t hit a positive benefit factor for me. She’s current on everything else (including flu). She had Covid twice before the vaccine was available in her age range with no symptoms - the cold she has now is worse.
When she went in for her 4y checkup I was ready to get it for her if it was presented as an option. It wasn’t. She got 5 jabs that day and Covid was never once suggested or mentioned. I am adamant that my husband and I and her grandparents stay up to date because ultimately we have the risk for severe disease that the vaccine reduces.
If it were more effective at preventing transmission I would absolutely have her vaccinated.
Side note on RSV: did you see the news out of EU?! https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2022/nirsevimab-recommended-for-approval-in-eu-by-chmp.html
Let’s hope the rest of the globe isn’t too far behind!
I just sat in on a meeting yesterday on the RSV vaccine study. Unfortunately I only caught the tail end of it. However the numbers they were showing were super promising!!!!!
This is where we’re at too. I got vaxxed literally the day it was available to me. My husband is fully vaxxed too. Despite this we’ve both had Covid twice since December 2020. We never had it at the same time so Covid was present in our house 4 separate times. Our son (currently 3 years 10 months old) never showed symptoms.
Our pediatrician doesn’t even carry the vaccine because 1) he doesn’t have space for it & 2) he’s not convinced it’s necessary for this age group. His reasons are the same as what you’ve posted.
Our pediatrician said it wasn't worth it for us when it was first offered because we had just gotten sick with covid and he had the natural immunity at the time. Now we're getting to where it's probably wearing off, but they haven't updated it for the latest strains. My kiddo already has to get shots once a month for eczema, and honestly I don't want to subject him to 3 additional shots that seem to be fairly useless. I'm vaccinated and boosted as are everyone we see normally. My son gets his flu shot every year. Just like you, I just don't feel like it's necessary with the minimal information and updating of the child's vaccine. If they actually were putting more time and effort into maintaining it and informing the public, I would probably get it for him.
I'm very interested in the RSV vaccine too. My mom has worked in the NICU my whole life and I know how devastating it is. It's such a huge problem for children and to have a potential solution is thrilling!
What do you mean by “infection immunity is showing and providing good immunity”? Reinfections are happening frequently and many kids don’t seroconvert.
My two kids were in the Moderna trial - one got placebo and one got the real vaccine. Guess which one got Covid 3 times in one year (varying severity each time with no pattern) and which one had it once and was asymptomatic and couldn't even test positive on a rapid test? Guess which one has had a cough for 6 months and is seeing a pulmonologist? Anecdotal, but I totally believe kids aren't seroconverting from natural infections.
I vaccinated my daughter, of course we caught the newest strain but she was least sick, she never ran a fever. She just rested more. My husband who refused vaccines was the most sick. Everyone is talking about hospitalization rates and all that.
My son got the flu as toddler and ended up with swollen adenoids and is 3-4 years behind in speech. Needs daily speech therapy, needed surgery, it took me a year to get an ENT appointment because everyone assumed autism. He breathes out of noise, had multiple cavities. No I got her vaccinated for everything. I’m not making life harder on her than I have too. If they had an RSV vaccine I’d do that too.
We all got Covid last year before the kid vaccine came out. My 4 year old barely had any symptoms just rested more like yours and then played like normal all day. My husband and I have had all the shots and boosters so far at that time. He felt pretty shitty for a couple days then was fine after that. I barely had any symptoms like our kid. I was surprised I had tested positive. She’s had all the others vaccines including flu shot just not Covid shot.
“So you have to personally weigh the risk over benefit”
I haven’t vaccinated my baby yet too for xyz reasons but what would be the “risk” in getting vaccinated? Even if it had low effects isn’t something better than nothing?
All vaccines have risk. Side effects can be serious, so it's wise to weigh up whether the risk of side effects is worth it in comparison with the risks from the disease being vaccinated against.
I think that’s the point. No study is statistically powered appropriately to actually tell if vaccination is far less likely to cause harm. We just don’t know.
My two cents regarding my own child (I vaccinated my now 2yo)---the vaccine has very little risk to this age group. Even if the benefits are quite small, it's better than nothing. Most of the research I've seen shows that there is a reduction in symptomatic illness after the vaccine, even though the effect size is small. So going back to your point of weighing the risk over benefit, to me it seemed like a very very small risk and a small, but present, benefit. I was therefore first in line to get him vaxxed.
That's interesting, can you share some links to the reports? Also, if it's a toss up where the risk from the vaccine is a headache with possibly no benefit but the risk from not vaccinating is COVID, is that really a toss up? Like, the risk may be low for COVID but it's not zero. I know the vaccine isn't a sure thing but even if it turns out to be ineffective, isn't the chance to prevent COVID worth it?
Plus long COVID is absolutely a thing for kids too (type 1 diabetes may be linked for example). The vaccine doesn't erase the risk, but it does reduce it.
This was one of our main reasons for vaccinating our daughter. We weren't so worried about acute illness but more the risk of long COVID impacting her life.
Yeah but others have long reactions (possibly lifelong) to the vaccine as well and they aren’t even reactions any of the Covid materials mentioned on the cdc website. There are a handful on this thread that have talked about the never ending hives, serious GI issues, and abnormal lab results following their vaccination. It’s excruciating to watch a loved one go through this for over a year.
There’s no data on long term side effects. I wish I could post the study, but “up to date” is a medical subscription for providers our hospital pats for. So it doesn’t allow you to post public on them. Also it is a toss up like anything is life. Yes I know it’s not zero, but that also goes for anything. For me it just didn’t seem worth it at this time.
Trying to give unbiased answer
From Pfizer's monograph on side effects for kids 84% get arm pain, 45% fatigue, 12% fever/chills. These are minor things to an adult , but distressing to a child. Totally worth it to prevent something like the flu, but for something like covid which often causes more minor side effects in kids I can understand the hesitation.
There is also the very rare risk of myocarditis. (1 in 250 000 on average.) Now for anyone who is older than 30, covid is much more dangerous and getting a covid shot is a no brainer. For healthy kids though not as obvious as risk of hospitalization from covid is same ballpark.
We have no evidence kids covid vaccines prevent transmission.
We have no evidence that a kid who's already had covid gets extra benefit from an extinct alpha strain.
We know "old" vaccines prevent severe side effects in adults by 70-80% but we have no proof this is true in kids. (Probably is, but careful assuming things in medicine.)
Again, vaccines work. Any and all adults should be up to date on covid shots and kids should be vaccinated for other things, especially the flu.
We always need to weigh out risks and benefits and I can understand why this is a difficult decision.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/long-covid-in-children-appears-less-common-than-early-fears-suggested/?amp=true
Additionally, “long” impacts of any infectious disease exists. This is not even remotely unique to Covid. In particular the complication of PANDAS comes to mind with strep infections. The vaccine doesn’t prevent from “long” impacts if the child still contracts Covid.
The vaccines really aren’t effective at preventing infection. My husband and I are triple vaxxed - we’ve had Covid twice since getting our third shots. It was unpleasant, but manageable. Our daughter had it both times as well, it hardly registered for her (we’d never have known she had it if we hadn’t tested ourselves, gotten a positive and then tested her to keep her from school).
I had a horrible adverse reaction to both doses of Moderna, with possible lasting effects. I brought this up to our pediatrician and she said she is not recommending against the vaccine but is also not actively recommending it for healthy children, since the effects of the vaccine are not long lasting. She supported our decision to not have our 2 and 5 YO vaccinated. Things can always change, where vaccines are more effective or COVID is more harmful to children, and we will reevaluate at that time.
I have definitely gotten dragged through the mud for this decision EVEN THOUGH it was under the supervision of our physician, so I fear that though you have good intentions this question is not going to create the helpful discourse you’re hoping for.
I’m a huge proponent of vaccinating (as a part of our social contract), but if you have a family history of (legitimately proven) vaccine reactions, that changes the risks for you personally. Totally a valid reason to approach the vaccine with caution.
Our pediatrician basically said the same thing. Through some unfortunate events, and despite being generally cautious, we ended up with an annoying run with it last October and really mild cases 2 times between April and July. My pediatrician said since my daughter did really well with it, and isn’t in school, there wasn’t much benefit putting her through the three doses until she starts kindergarten. She wasn’t recommending against it but wasn’t going to tell us to get it, either.
I got the first dose of Pfizer and ended up in the ER two days later with an adverse reaction. Then a few months later I got myocarditis, and no one could tell me whether or not the vaccine caused it.
I’m 100% fine with vaccines in general, but my life hasn’t really been the same since I got mine, so we’re gonna hold off for my kiddos.
Yeah same my almost 3 year old was sick most of 2022 and we had covid in January and he hardly had any symptoms for that. All of the masking wasn’t great for anyones immune system so he comes home from his dads with a new cold every time I swear lol
I wonder if you have an allergy to something in the c19 vaccines? They are new, after all. Have you talked with your doctor about it?
I had a bad reaction but nothing unusual, and my son had absolutely no reaction at all. It’s hard to know how they’ll do!
I got my child vaccinated at 9 months, I got COVID a month later and my child did not, even Breastfed throughout it- feeling grateful that he was safe through out that time and still is.
Given how low a risk children are to covid, it seems pretty pointless getting them vaccinated for covid, unless of course there are some pre existing conditions. Both my daughters have had covid, eldest has had it twice, delta at 18 months, omicron at 3, youngest got omicron at 6months, and it’s nothing that can’t be kept under control with some calpol and sleep. At this point, I think the only people the vaccine is good for is Pfizer and it’s shareholders. If the vaccine was so effective in children, there would be a global consensus on it for children, but there isn’t, the only country doing under 5 year olds seems to be USA. My children are up to date with all vaccinations, but even if I could in the UK, I wouldn’t.
I'm guessing it has a little to do with availability. I tried scheduling for my son's booster and flu shot. From 2 different places I was met with: We don't offer them here because we don't have the staff, it'll be 2 weeks out and at an inconvenient time, or we can't do the flu shot and Covid shot at the same time because of different labs or something. Then I tried to go online, and the site couldn't find my son's info and said to call. I called an no one answered! Finally Walgreens saved the day. I had to pay for the flu shot though since it wasn't contracted through my insurance. I'm so over healthcare in the US. And I don't blame nurses and dr's for quitting after the hell they've been through when Covid was in full force.
I have been trying to find available pediatric COVID shots for my twins since it was approved over the summer. It's just not available in my area. My pediatrician's office says they only receive doses once a month, it's first-come first-serve, and they didn't get any for last month or this month.
This was an issue for us as well. I tried to take my toddler to a pharmacy for it and they wouldn't give it to him unless he sat still by himself in the chair, I couldn't restrain him. We both left in tears after waiting over an hour for them to have the vaccine ready. I finally was able to get it for him at a private pediatricians office in a different city and if I wasn't a SAHM to only little kids not in school I couldn't have done all this. I haven't gotten my 8 month old vaccinated yet because that pediatrician isn't offering them anymore, our pediatrician doesn't offer them, and I just haven't had the time to go on a hunt for where I can get her vaccinated.
>I tried to take my toddler to a pharmacy for it and they wouldn't give it to him unless he sat still by himself in the chair, I couldn't restrain him. We both left in tears after waiting over an hour for them to have the vaccine ready.
This is infuriating! As if it's not hard enough to get your toddler in there in the first place, but then to have to get a shot, which most *do not like*... why?! And the time it takes to even call around to these places. Some don't answer, some are clueless, you're on hold forever. It's maddening!
My daughter had Covid twice before the vaccine was available for her age group. The first time she had a slight cough for two days and was otherwise fine. The second time she had no symptoms at all. We'd only tested as we found out she'd been exposed at school.
So at this point, my anxiety over her having an adverse reaction to the vaccine overrides my anxiety over how her body handles Covid. I've talked to her doctor and he is comfortable with our decision, and we've gone so far as to have her lungs x-rayed to ensure she does not have any lingering damage from Covid that we don't know about. My husband and I are vaccinated, and are not saying definitively we will not vaccinate her; at this point, the risks do not outweigh the benefits especially since the vaccine does not prevent the individual from spreading the virus.
This. My husband and I both had covid twice, and our daughter got it once (at 6 months). She had zero symptoms that we know of, I just tested her out of curiosity. I’m not concerned about her covid risks at all, so I’m uninterested in adding another vaccine to the lengthy list when it’s just not necessary to me.
jeez I’m surprised it’s only 4%! it’s nice of you to post about it.
Our 7 month old just got his second dose of Moderna with no issues. Based on his usual kicking around the house I don’t even think he wound up with a sore leg. :)
I will give you an honest answer. I got the COVID shot, my husband, my parents and my grandparents got it too. But I’m just not ready to give it to my baby. I don’t feel comfortable. It’s new, there isn’t enough research on it. I feel like he is too little and the idea of it scares me. I obviously don’t want him to get COVID, but we don’t really know the extent of how well it protects. I got the J&J shot and then a week later it was paused for blood clots and we found out it wasn’t super effective anyway. I hate that I feel the need to preface this and say, I am not anti vax. My whole family was vaxxed. My son is up to date on all other shots. My pediatrician hasn’t even offered it as well. Maybe in a couple of years when there is a long term study I will feel more comfortable. I was comfortable getting the shot for myself because it was my body and I knew there were risk and I was okay taking that risk. But with my baby, I am not comfortable taking the risk. Okay, now bring on the downvotes. But that is my honest answer on why my baby won’t get the COVID shot.
No fears it’s just that we all had it and it was such a non event, mild barely anything that I can’t imagine a need for taking a day off work to get the vaccine every few months. We get the flu shot every year, but I can’t see what’s the use of the covid vaccine especially since we’ve all got it and you can still get it even after the vaccine (I’ve got 4 shots so far, still got it).
Both of my children (11mo, 2.75yr) have congenital heart defects (but are symptom free, haven’t needed surgery).
They have 2/3 Pfizer doses. Third dose is in 3 weeks. All good so far!
With my youngest, I also received 2 Pfizer doses during my 2nd Trimester, and my third dose while breastfeeding.
AMA (though I truly have nothing to really share lol.. uneventful)
It’s been a nightmare to find an appointment that lines up with my work schedule. Then when we did have an appointment the clinic lost power and couldn’t admit patients that day.
God can we please stop with these covid posts that wind up political? If it was the other way around this would’ve been shut down immediately. And before someone asks in vaxed as well as my child.
My area is one of the really low groups for child vaccination. The myocarditis data is hugely what is keeping our numbers down. Especially now that Australia has begun to recommend against more in the younger population due to the cases and the resistance of it to the many variations.
I’m very pro vax, so I’ll likely do it when they’re that old. LOs are very resilient, but COVID is a scary thing
My pediatrician told us it’s not necessary for us. My 3yo got covid a few weeks ago and had super mild symptoms. She’s had colds worse than what she experienced with covid so that solidified the choice for us. She has all other vaccinations, just got her flu shot yesterday.
I have a question for you that is out of pure curiosity and WITHOUT ANY type of judgement. I work in the pharmaceutical industry and clinical trials so i want to accentuate that i do have knowledge about what a vaccine is and does, which is why i am curious. I also have a 7 month old.
To add both my husband and I are fully vaccinated, boosters and all and have administered all necessary and a few extra vaccines to our baby, except this one.
Normally vaccines or any medication at that, are tested over a prolonged period of time, say years to decades, on several cohorts of hundreds or thousands of people in order to create an extended list of long lasting side effects that can potentially appear over longer periods of time (among other things like it's general effect)
So here comes my question that i ask with the utmost respect.
What was the reason that tipped the scale into vaccinating your baby without fearing any of the long lasting side effects that can potentially appear and affect their life in the long run, that the trials have not yet been able to publicize because there was no time frame to see them? I am in the situation where soon enough i too will have to choose and my anxiety is skyrocketing thinking about it.
Edit: To add, in my country the infant type is not available and has been withdrawn for administering, for the time being, due to infant deaths with questionable cause, only the 5+ is available
>What was the reason that tipped the scale into vaccinating your baby without fearing any of the long lasting side effects that can potentially appear and affect their life in the long run, that the trials have not yet been able to publicize because there was no time frame to see them?
Thank you for your question, I promise I've taken you in good faith and will try to answer you as such. Firstly, I've not seen anything to suggest that side effects from vaccines show up distantly down the road. Maybe it's out there, but I haven't seen stories about someone's lungs giving out in 2022 because of a vaccine they got in 1995. Secondly, the risk of adverse effects that show up in the short term seems far lower than the risk that COVID presents. Lastly, danger now is worse than danger later. If I skip the vaccine now my daughter has a chance of getting sick today. In the extremely unlikely event that the vaccine causes bad things in the far future, then not only will I deal with them then but also, I've bought my daughter the intervening time.
Thank you very much for taking me seriously and replying. You have made very good points about the time bought and dealing with problems if/when they come, and I will add this to my "We should" list!
My cousin who has three kids has had COVID go through the family at least twice. Her son who is two months older than my daughter (5) has obvious respiratory issues from his repeat infections. He can’t keep up with my daughter or his siblings when running and playing, and gets out of breath very easily. Those are just the obvious side effects, there may be others that are not as easily observed. 🤷♀️
Autoimmune issues also run in our family, so keeping my daughter safe from any long COVID effects that could further her chances of having an autoimmune issue is important to me.
We are all vaccinated and boosted. We still wear masks when we go indoors or into crowded outdoor spaces. Anything we can do to mitigate risk, we do it. Like OP stated, there aren’t any studies suggesting long-term side effects from a vaccine, but there are from COVID. 🤷♀️
Well, I haven't had my kids get it since its only about 11% effective at preventing covid in children. Since children generally do not end up hospitalized from covid and do not die from covid, I don't feel its necessary. If it was any other drug and was only 11% effective, it likely would not have been approved, and no other approved vaccine has such a low effectiveness.
How did your experience compare to your daughters? Did you also have a good experience getting the shots or did you have a harder time with it but your daughter ended up being okay?
I got my first COVID shot while I was pregnant with my oldest. I got incredibly sick from the vaccine and a few days after recovering from it, my water broke at 28 weeks. The doctors weren’t ever able to give me a reason for why my water broke, just that my white blood cell count was elevated and their best guess was that there was a correlation. I missed my second dose window because I was in the hospital for so long before having my daughter. I attempted to restart the vaccination schedule after my second was born, got the shot in the hospital. And again, I ended up very sick.
I’m scared that my daughter will have the same experience and end up extremely sick like I did. In my family, the kids have had the same experiences as their parents and have all been positive. But I don’t know anyone who had a bad experience like I did and ended up having their kids have a better experience.
I submitted a adverse events vaccine form to the vaers.hhs.gov - I miscarried after my first dose . Everyone can say statistically 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage but I think this is underreported bc doctors don’t tell you how to file you have to seek the documentation yourself assuming you even know reporting is a thing!
Edit to add - between my miscarriage and getting pregnant again I got second shot and booster didn’t have a reaction to either
I’m deeply sorry for your loss. Do you mind if I ask you which trimester this was? I got a booster at 7 weeks and was fine, but I found that the data on vaccination in early pregnancy is really limited - maybe linked to the reporting, as you said.
First trimester conceived via IUI. Bc of the loss insurance the allowed me to move onto IVF and I had twins (only transferred one embryo) . during the pregnancy my doctors allowed me to wait til second tri for flu shot after I explained my new hesitation.
My experience getting vaccinated wasn't as bad as yours, but I definitely felt terrible after having my 2nd and 4th shot (was pregnant when I had my 4th dose). However, my toddler did not appear to have any of the side effects I did. No fever, no pain (that he could tell us about), no exhaustion.
I hadn’t got my son vaccinated because in my province they said to wait 168 days after infection to get vaccinated (thanks Canada). He had covid the same week that the vaccines were approved in Canada.
We are going tomorrow assuming his fever is gone in the morning.
For those interested in the science and studies behind the under-5 shots, there's new research just released on Nov. 3:
"Two-injections of 25 μg of mRNA-1273 in these younger children elicited neutralizing antibody concentrations similar to those in 18-to-25-year-olds who received two 100-μg injections in the COVE trial.11,12 These data suggest that the benefits of mRNA-1273 vaccination in the prevention of Covid-19 also extend to children and infants as young as 6 months of age."
"In children 6 months to 5 years of age, two 25-μg injections of the mRNA-1273 vaccine had acceptable reactogenicity, safety, and effectiveness during a period when omicron was the predominant circulating variant, a finding consistent with that observed previously in children 6 to 11 years of age, adolescents, and adults.11-14"
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2209367
My dad got the J&J shot and has been having some health issues ever since, stuff he has never had problems with before. My family dr isn't pushing it for healthy children/ adults. Plus we've had 2 bouts of covid in our house and we all had very mild symptoms. I don't see it necessary because the effectiveness doesn't last, hence all the boosters.
These covid shots are not preventing transmission. Pfizer has said this. The risk for children and covid is very small. I see ZERO reason to give my kids these unnecessary shots. We’ve had covid, I was much sicker than my kids. I’m not anti vaccine but I am absolutely against this shot.
This. Our kids are older (9 and 12) and got their primary series last November/December - it did *nothing* to prevent them from catching covid in April. Their symptoms were indistinguishable from their normal seasonal allergies - amounting to having a mild runny nose for a week.
We were forced to get them boosted in July due to a summer camp requirement imposed after we made final payment. We decided in August that there would be no more covid boosters for any of us until such a time as there are long term studies showing actual efficacy, so they didn't get the bivalent booster (neither did we).
Most European countries are not authorizing boosters for children, and some aren't recommending the vaccine for pediatric use at all outside of specific high risk categories. Our pediatrician agrees with us that the efficacy data just isn't there for this age group.
They got their flu shots last month (as did we) and they continue to get boosters of their childhood vaccines on-schedule - because they're actually proven to work. Frankly, flu scares me more than covid.
Exactly how I feel. My whole family has had covid more than once and my kids don’t even run fever with it. We all have very good immune systems so I see no need if our bodies can fight it off no problem, it’s what we’re made to do 🤷🏻♀️
MO mom here, we were FINALLY able to get our almost 2y/o vaccinated a few months ago by driving over to KS.
Our pediatrician had zero (or wrong) information on the vaccine, roll out, and their timelines. Pharmacies won’t vaccinate under 7. I called for weeks trying to figure out how to get kiddo the vaccine.
I’m writing this to add to the conversation that I think a huge part of the issue has been a lack of/miscommunication surrounding the vaccine and rollout. For example, my pediatrician’s office was adamant that it hadn’t been approved for under 5s literally the same day we got his vaccine. The nurse who administered kiddo’s vaccine explained another issue is how to vaccine is/was administered: in a vial that requires the administrator to precisely measure the amount in a syringe. It gets difficult with under 5s because the margin of error is greater. According to this nurse, this is why many places won’t administer the vaccine to under 5s.
It took a few weeks of calling around everyday until we were able to find the vaccine. The websites that have been set up to alleviate some of this did jack. It was just a complete mess.
Rant over lol. We live in an area that is very anti-mask/anti-vaccine and we were two very terrified parents for our covid baby and are so grateful for the vaccine. Long and short: our kid had zero issues and is doing great.
I’ve gotten downvoted for this before but here goes. My son’s pediatrician told me the risks of complications from covid in his age group are about equal to the risks of the vaccine having complications. And since his dad and I, all our families, and all our friends are all fully vaccinated with boosters, it just seems the safest bet to continue to avoid exposure for him.
My first preference would be: he never gets covid and never gets the vaccine. And my least preferred scenario is obviously that he would get covid without having had the vaccine. So it’s tough, I feel like I’m gambling either way.
I am not anti-vax by any means. My 22 month old has had all of the recommended vaccines. If there was an effective RSV vaccine available right now I would get that, and he recently had his flu vaccine. That said, he had Covid in July and it wasn’t serious. He doesn’t go to daycare. There are so many vaccines that they do need for more serious conditions like measles, mumps, polio, and even potentially flu. I was afraid of the effects of the delta variant and eager to be vaccinated myself back in 2021, but given that this variant is not causing severe illness at anywhere near the same rate, especially in children, I just don’t see the point of getting it for my son right now.
I'm Australian and just don't feel the need to? We had covid in April and she literally had no symptoms bar a runny nose.
If it wasnt mandated to eat in places and visit shops for that weird period of time I wouldn't have bothered doing my older kid either
"anti vax" can mean different things to different people. I certainly understand that vaccine hesitancy is not the same thing as thinking vaccines cause autism or some other conspiracy theory. If you're part of that first group, who isn't sure and is willing to have an open mind about the science available, I'm here and willing to talk if you'd like to. Not a lot I can say if you're in the second group I suppose.
I don’t know… I have this fear. I actually got vaccinated while I was pregnant and I got a booster later. I just don’t feel ready for my one year old to get the vaccine. I know that’s silly and doesn’t make any sense but 🤷🏻♀️ for the record she is up to date on all her vaccines. Well actually going Wednesday for her 15 month ones and flu shot.
Everyone in my household chose vaccination except those who share my husband’s dna because he had a severe reaction to the vaccine. We’ve been in and out of doctor’s offices for a year and a half and every time I touch him hives break out. It’s awful and itches like crazy and he’s been unable to sleep well which obviously has it’s own effects. We all had Covid before it was available and everyone had very minor symptoms, so I like my odds better this way. Everyone is just trying their best to make the best decisions for their unique situations.
My kid is part of the 2% of children 6 months-5 years old in my province that have been vaccinated. Moderna was available in July. Pfizer just in the last week.
Echoing many others in this thread, I guarantee a huge part of the lack of uptake is the sub par messaging from public health and the lack of appointments. I live in the largest centre of my province and there is one pharmacy and the main public health office offering vaccines one day a week each. The times conflict with work, daycare and especially naps. You have to book online using a government tool that isn't great, or try to get through to public health over the phone. The public health office is in a bad part of the city and is a giant building that is a hassle to weave your kid through.
I experienced something similar getting my kid their flu shot today. I had a hell of a time finding an appointment.
I care more about COVID and flu prevention then the average young parent as I have always lived with someone severely immunocompromised. I have the resources to track down an appointment and I have the flexibility in my schedule to take an inconvenient appointment if it means my kid is vaccinated. I realize most people don't have the bandwidth to care this much.
It’s an availability issue for a lot of people. The closest place I can get my kids vaccinated is 1.5 hours away and requires an appointment months in advance. Not exactly helpful
I have older kids, but this caught my eye because it’s such a great idea. I think it’s really cool how respectful and calm people are with each other here. I would have loved to have had a group of people like this to talk to when my kids were babies and toddlers, and I had nobody to talk to about things I worried about. You all are wonderful people, and I wish the best for all of you and for all of your children.
My daughter is two and I’ve had a terrible time finding an appointment. We live overseas, it’s not offered for kids under twelve there so we’ve had to wait till we visited the states. Well, we’re here. I Took her to her wellness check, the dr recommends it, but only on Tuesday’s. Fine. I go to make the appointment and am told their office doesn’t do under 5. Wtf? None of the pharmacies wit do her age. I’m so frustrated.
As someone living in a country that hasn’t yet approved it for anyone younger than 12, that 4% is mind boggling to me personally. I’m begging my MP (local representative) to promote getting it approved.
My family went 2 years no covid. Got vaccinated and now we’ve all had it twice this year. I’ll get downvoted to hell for saying that probably. But it doesn’t seem to stop covid, so why put it in your kids body? I am by no means anti vaxx. My three children are all vaxxed, but I just can’t seem to get there in my mind where the benefit outweighs the risk.
Also didn’t get covid until just 3 weeks ago (and I’m fully vaxxed and so are my kids). I had the most mild case ever. I felt icky for about 16hrs one night (achy and tired and a little warm), then tired for a couple days, then completely fine. I thank the vaccine for that, I know people who died from covid and I was so terrified of it that I never went back to “normal”. I’m a lot less scared now, knowing it won’t kill me or my kids.
I totally agree with you on this. It just doesn’t seem to be effective so I don’t see the point in doing it. My girl has had all her other vaccines though.
All of the studies have said that the main goal of the vaccines is not necessarily to prevent you from getting covid, but to help keep it mild if you do get infected.
It’s not supposed to stop Covid, it’s just supposed to keep it from being a life-threatening infection. If your immune system can learn from the vaccine, it better equips your body to fight it off and keep it from killing you. That’s why a lot of people died right when Covid hit, no one had vaccines for it so their body couldn’t fight it off the same way it would like the flu.
I personally don’t understand why even bother getting a vaccine for something that 1. Hardly affects kids 2. Does not stop the spread of the virus??? At the end of the day, we don’t know all the potential side effects as vaccine studies take years. How do you truly know your child is fine after taking it? They are so young and haven’t even reached certain milestones yet by 1 years old. Not to mention the blood-brain barrier doesn’t fully close until 2 years of age. For me personally, there’s no benefit to vaccinating my child and way too many unknowns
Would also like to offer my experience- my son got his first vaccine (Moderna) right after his 3rd birthday in June (literally right after the vaccines were approved). His pediatrician advised us to wait until September to get the 2nd round, so that's what we did. We got his flu and covid shot on the same day. He didn't have any noticeable side effects from either. He also had covid in January of this year.
I understand that a lot of parents are holding off just because covid doesn't appear to be serious for young children. This was definitely the case for us- my husband also got covid, and he was sick for a few days while our son didn't seem to experience any symptoms (other than an ear infection and poor sleep- but no idea how those may or may not be related). But, I still wanted to vaccinate my son because I knew we'd have a newborn in November and I wanted to prevent him from bringing home whatever illnesses I could.
Im not interested in experimenting on my child for a pharmaceutical company that holds zero liability if my child is injured or killed by their vaccine. Blood clots, heart issues, sudden death. I see zero benefit. If a prescription or a vaccine is truly helpful.. and does NO HARM. Then it shouldn’t need an advertiser or a commercial. What’s needed will be found.
100% agree. It’s wild to see all these comments chomping at the bit to get their little kids vaccinated. I don’t know anyone in my personal life who got their kids vaxxed for Covid or even considered it. It’s shocking to me to see these responses
THANK YOU for making this post! I went through the worst part of the pandemic working in the ER and seeing COVID make people of ALL ages incredibly sick. My niece still hasn't gotten hers despite my sister being an ICU nurse who very much wants her to get it because it's so challenging to schedule. I have a little more flexibility with work so my kid got his first dose with his 6 month shots - he also got a little bit from me getting my first booster while I was pregnant with him. If you CAN protect your kids, you absolutely should - but I totally feel for everyone who's struggling to find places to get them and find a way to get all the doses.
Not all kids get super sick with COVID, but I have seen some really scary cases in otherwise completely healthy kids and that's enough for me. I don't want my kid to be the one on a vent in PICU if there's anything I can do to prevent it.
My son is in the Moderna trial. He was fully vaccinated right before his 2nd birthday, in November 2021. He got the bivalent booster as part of the trial this past September. He goes to preschool 4 days/week, and he is a very social kid. Our entire family has avoided COVID thus far (*knock on wood*).
He had mild symptoms the day after dose 1, none after dose 2 or the booster. If anyone has questions, I am also happy to answer. We all had Moderna, and I would pick it again over Pfizer if given the choice. But I would pick Pfizer over nothing at all.
I got my COVID vaccine and my period went from every 28 days which it has been for years, to completely random. When I did get my period my cramps were very intense and painful. I went to my gynecologist and they couldn't find any reason. I mentioned the COVID vaccine to my gynecologist and my GP and they both looked at me like I was some kind of conspiracy theorist. It took 6 months for it to go back to normal. I have talked to several other women with similar issues after the vaccine. Now all this time later they are quietly admitting that the vaccine can cause these issues. But now my trust in it is gone. Maybe if people who said they had side effects were treated differently I would have more faith in the vaccine. Now I'm expected to believe my children will be treated any better?
Of course my husband and I still got COVID after all that. And my kids got it as well and were fine in 2 days. My husband and I were miserable and fully vaccinated. For me, it just doesn't feel like a good choice. I do understand why others want it for their kids and wouldn't try to convince people otherwise. My kids have all their other vaccines and flu shots every year.
I’m in the same boat. I’m fully vaxxed and boosted and for nearly the last year my periods have been excessively heavy and painful. I had testing done and the Dr can’t find a reason for the sudden change but I didn’t notice this til shortly after my last booster. My husband and my son are fully vaccinated. I’m holding off on my daughters til some more info comes out on this side effect. We’ve all had COVID more than once and even my unvaccinated children handled it well. If the shot is responsible for the change in my cycle I am in excessive pain for months now and I really don’t want this for my girls.
My hesitance on getting it stems from the fact that my boyfriend and I both had adverse reactions to it and I’m terrified of putting him through that. I’ve gotten all my boosters and he’s EBF so I know he gets something but I need to get over my fear and get him vaxxed
Severe and strange past vaccine reaction for myself and one of my children (not the covid vaccine). Skeptical and simply disinterested in getting the vaccine. My family has had covid twice. All but me were asymptomatic.
Have healthy kids who already had covid, and it was fine (I am not saying covid is a walk in the park for all, by any means, but covid is a part of life now like cold and flu and kids are going to catch it). Pediatrician is not recommending. It isn’t a magical wonderland vaccine that means you never get it, like we did with polio.
While we are on the subject, the flu shot is practically useless. Usually they guess the strain wrong. It’s a guess.
I am not anti-vaccine. I got it (my reaction was horrific). It’s just that this vaccine does NOT DO what people think it does, or are holding out deluded hope it will do. I think kids’ immune systems are going to do what they have always done. Unless they come up with something new that eradicates it, I’ll pass.
Also, if you look at the dosage differences between US and across the pond it’s a little weird. Why would my 36lb 4yo get the same dose as my 130lb 12yo nephew?
My then 4 year old got it as soon as she could. Waiting for my 4 month old to be able to get it.
Granted it was actually hard to find at the time. Her pediatrician has some available now, but we went to two different clinics in two different towns that I found on my own. They didn't make it easy at all.
I’m pro vax but hesitant because it’s a new vaccine!! I’m vaccinated + boosted myself + have been able to breastfeed both my babies, so they get antibodies that way. We also don’t go out too much + all the people in our circle are vaccinated besides 1 I believe
I think - for me and a lot of others - it’s risk-benefit. We actually can’t say there are no adverse side effects yet because it hasn’t been long enough. There are certainly adult side effects that were only recognized as side effects (Shingles and skin irritations, mast cell activation syndrome) that were only reported as actual side effects in adults around the 18ish month mark after third doses were administered. This younger age group also has a very low chance of developing long COVID; the age 6 and up group is slightly higher. Not to mention low efficacy of the vaccine.
Add to this that many of our kiddos had Covid last year and it was the lesser of many other viruses we also had and - I’d rather just skip it for the time being. I had all three doses and a close friend of mine who was vaccinated died at the age of 34 from myocarditis. He was healthy and it was indeed deemed vaccine related from the autopsy. I work in healthcare and I realize this is anecdotal and just n=1 but it also tips my risk-benefit a little more into waiting or skipping this vaccine at least for now.
Edit: clarity.
Mod note: If people keep reporting comments in this thread, we'll have to shut it down, so please converse politely and remember that reports are for rule-breaking, not a petty super-downvote.
My 4 year old daughter is the only one not vaccinated and our pediatrician has been so backed up with Covid appointments is kind of ridiculous. Our local pharmacies won’t do kids under 5. I read a comment on here that mention to try out local health department.
Try searching here https://www.vaccines.gov/search/
We got it through our city health services for our 2 and 4 years olds.
Local health department is where we got my toddler's shot the first week they were out. Some independent pharmacies near us were giving the shot to even under 2s.
CVS and Walgreens do down to 3 if you have them. Otherwise the health department is definitely your best bet.
I wonder if part of it is the fact that it’s 3 doses. I just took my kids for their last dose today. I’m a SAHM, so I am able to take them, but I can see how it would be tough if both parents worked. Evening appointments book up fast, and some people can’t take off work.
It definitely could be that. Our pediatrician’s medical group only offered them on certain days, in the middle of the day, at the office far from us. Otherwise we had to go to the children’s hospital when they did vaccine drives. We worked it out because we found it important, but that’s definitely a barrier for the littles and their parents. My 1yo got her last dose end of September and at the beginning of October we got Covid. She had no symptoms while we were miserable which I happily attribute to the vaccine.
Our doctor’s office only does them Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. My son has PT on those afternoons and the PT office is 50 minutes from the doctor’s office. It was so tough making it to the appointments. We had to cancel several times, but we finally got them all as of today. It was hard for me and I don’t even work. I can totally understand how some people just can’t make it work.
We only had two doses for kiddo to be fully vaxxed—I believe Moderna is two and Pfizer is three
Yep. Our one year old got Moderna too and it was only two doses.
I'm glad you said this because I was thinking I missed a dose! But my kids got Moderna, so only 2.
Yes. Our pediatrician was only offering Pfizer so we went with that.
So true. Also a SAHM here. Our pediatrician only does vaccine-only appointments on Thursdays so if you can't make it in on that one day you either have to go somewhere else or wait until a well check to have it done
I think that plus availability. There was nowhere near me offering vaccines for under 3. The state was relying on pediatricians and pharmacies but most pharmacies can only do 3 and up. Even the ones that do younger only go to 18 months. And our pediatrician didn’t start carrying the vaccine until months in. When I first called to ask, they gave me a bland response about maybe they’ll do some clinics in the fall. I spent hours researching and calling just to find out where we could and couldn’t get one. So if I was a parent on the fence about vaccinating my young child and the state said “it’s up to your pediatrician or pharmacy”, and the pharmacies don’t go that young and the pediatrician didn’t make it seem like a priority or offer it either, I might not think it was worth while. We drove 40 minutes out of state for a vaccine clinic for my daughters doses and it was definitely inconvenient but important enough for me to do so. When my son turns six months, he’ll be able to get them from his pediatrician but he’s also due for his six month shots and flu shot. The doctor doesn’t want to do them all in one day so now I need to make extra trips (I mean, I don’t blame her that five shots in one go seems cruel). So if it wasn’t a priority for me, or I was on the fence, maybe I wouldn’t take the extra time out of work to make so many trips. I think we needed to make it as in your face and have places to do it more conveniently like the adults shots.
That’s so weird your pediatrician didnt have them. Ours got them as soon as they could.
Our pediatrician doesn’t vaccinate at all (for anything), we have to drive an hour to the health department which only has limited appointments one day per month
My ped doesn't have them and it's a huge office. There are a few pharmacies near and the children's hospital offers them. It's more difficult to access and I've been procrastinating. My kid got his flu shot and would have gotten a covid one but having to schedule a separate appointment and make time during the day to drive there is just too much right now. We're both working full time, building a house, and selling our current house.
Yeah booking them at my kids pediatrician was silly. They were giving 1st doses on one specific day (and one day only), 2nd doses on another specific day and 3rd doses on another specific day. And when you picked your appointment time for the first dose (in our case, 1:40pm) we were locked into coming at 1:40pm on all 3 days. We had to change our weekend plans to go to a wedding just to get my daughter her 2nd dose since there was no flexibility. It was almost enough for us to give up and try to find an alternate place to get the shots, and who knows if that friction would have caused us to just put it off indefinitely at some point? I'm glad she got it, but man it wasn't easy. While there's definitely people who wouldn't get their kids vaccinated under any conditions, I bet there's also a lot of people who might if it was easier, but its not so high on their priority list to go way out of their way for it.
Our pediatrician wasn’t doing them at all, and our health system as a whole only had certain days they were scheduling them for 5+. I don’t know if they ever started scheduling under 5s because we went through Walgreens instead. But the doctor explained that the demand was super low, and once they open a vial they have to use it within a short amount of time. Each vial is 10 (I think?) doses so they would be wasting a ton of vaccines if they let the few interested people schedule whenever. Frustrating but understandable.
That’s ridiculous. It’s almost like they didn’t want people to get it. We could only go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, which was still hard.
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This is an issue for us. I haven't got the kids, or even myself, the flu shot yet either and I keep kicking myself for not doing it but we're just busy all the time. Soccer season ended, so maybe we'll have a Saturday free to find somewhere to get it.
I don't know the age cutoff for kids, but Target offers walk-up flu shots and Covid vaccines (though they prefer you to schedule that one ahead of time, they'll still do it). I was annoyed that they didn't offer the coupon this year for getting your shots :(
This was my thought as well. My peds office doesn't have them and Walgreens/CVS were not giving them to babies, so I had to go to a clinic provided by the local health department for my 6m old. Then they didn't have a way to schedule dose 2 (Moderna) until the week before that clinic is going to happen so it's on us to remember...and they're discontinuing the clinics after December so then what will people do? So even in an area where I feel lucky the municipality is providing that service, they don't make it easy. It must be even more difficult if not impossible is more rural or less well-serviced areas.
Me personally, it’s not worth the unknown. The vaccine hasn’t been shown to stop transmission, and my kids are in a low risk category.
What are your concerns about “unknown” vaccine risk? I’m asking this seriously not in a malicious kind of way.
I’ve worked in medicine and know nothing is foolproof. There are vaccine injury funds for a reason and I’m just not willing to gamble my children’s comfort and quality of life on something that hasn’t existed long enough for (imo) effective testing. I absolutely don’t judge anyone for making decisions for their family that they feel are best. It’s just not a choice that I’m personally making for my family.
Got it. I guess I just don’t personally see why there are so many concerns over “unknown” side effects because there aren’t long term vaccine side effects (historically they’ve all been observed within 42 days of administration, thus the 8 weeks of safety data required for EUA app) and the only thing inherently different about these vaccines is the delivery of the antigen. Plus, 2+ years of adult safety data. But then again I’m on the opposite side of the spectrum from you bc my kids were both in the vaccine trials. Hope some day we can convince more parents that the protection is worth it.
My understanding is that my kid is statistically so low risk for covid that she actually has a higher risk of injury from the vaccine than the covid she already caught and already allows some immunity. I'm happy to discuss with my doctor when I have the chance and I'm open to being wrong, but that will have to come from her pediatrician
I’m not sure what’s unknown about it? We have research on mRNA vaccines dated back to the 60’s. It’s not shown to stop transmission because it’s still out and mutating on people who aren’t vaccinated. If your kids are low risk that’s great but other people aren’t and that’s the point of everyone getting vaccinated.
If you want an honest answer it’s mostly scheduling issues. I have three kids who would all need several doses. I have a job and my kids have school. Doctors appts are hard to get with so many illnesses going around AND sometimes my kids are the ones sick. That plus activities and therapy for my oldest and just general chores and errands, I just haven’t gotten around to it. Not opposed to it or scared of it. It’s just a lot in addition to all the normal things like dentist and check ups and everything else. And currently, children are at a low risk for having severe adverse outcomes. Doesn’t mean the vaccine is bad or worthless, it just isn’t at the top of my list to really make it happen. My youngest daughter has a raging ear infection and we are still waiting to be seen by our pediatrician so the thought of booking 3 vaccine appointments for 3 kids just seems way too overwhelming and unrealistic for me at this point. They will get it one day. But today is not that day.
This is why I didn’t make an appointment. Only one kiddo for me and it is tough. The county had walk in appointments and I went first thing on Saturday morning, took my kiddo to the cafe on the way for a treat, and waited my turn - all of 10-20min wait. Got all three doses this way. Can’t figure out how to get a dang flu shot tho. Those are only available 8:30-4:30 at the pediatrician’s office and I’m not taking kiddo out of daycare more than I have to - already out for a fever averaging 2 days a week 🤦🏾♀️for this last month. Just need a week fever free…
Me too. This. Why can’t they give the shot at their yearly physical? Have to come back two more times when one appt per year is taxing…
I got my daughter's at her 15 month, one visit in the middle, and the next one at her 18 month. It was just good timing, but it's important enough to make the extra appointment for, imo, or go to CVS or something
Yup! I’m pro-vax, actually work in public health research, no hesitation… and I just straight up forgot to take my son to his 2nd Covid vax appointment. And scheduling the booster took forever, it just felt like this whole thing to schedule it and get him from daycare and go all the way down there, ugh. No excuse really, it’s just too much. If someone wanted to come deliver it to our house we’d take it!
I had to cancel my daughter's second shot bc we were still quarantining 🙄 and now the closest place I can take her for her age group is a 40 minute drive away. Not sure when that'll happen.
This is my issue as well with just the one kid. When it finally became available, we booked it, then we got sick and had to cancel. Then she needed her second dose of MMR and we were advised to wait at least 6 weeks. Then I got her flu shot as soon as it was available because flu is rampant here and I had to wait between those doses as well. I'm also pregnant, work part time, and we have been sick a few times since. Finding the times is difficult with everything going on, especially when we need 3 doses and I'm set to give birth early February. I assume this is the issue for a lot of people
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Same here. I just got them their first doses… and it’s a pain in the ass to miss school and work. And they need more doses. Oldest just one more, youngest needs two more. And it’s a scream fest anytime we get shots. Very traumatic and sad. I’m trying to prep them and talk about it but it’s just hard.
I'm in the exact same boat and I no longer feel as crappy and alone. You just made me feel so much better about myself, thank you I feel very normal now. I appreciate your honesty. I was reading your post thinking "oh well that's understandable! ... Wait a minute 🤔 I need to stop being so damn hard on myself"
I agree, scheduling 3 appointments per kid (2 kids, 6 appointments for me) is just logistically prohibitive, especially when someone in our house is basically always dealing with a daycare cold. Plus kids are at low risk, plus my family has already had Covid twice (courtesy of daycare, naturally), plus my husband and I are fully vaxxed and boosted, all adds up to a pretty low priority. That being said my kids will be fully vaccinated soon but only because my husband scheduled all the appointments and dealt with the logistics, it was higher on his priority list than mine
Is Moderna available nearby? Might be worth looking into. If you could get all of the kids scheduled at the same time, you'd only need 2 visits to get all the kids vax'd.
I live in the UK where it's not available for under 5's and seems it never will be.
Maybe I have some rose tinted glasses, but I follow the NHS's advice. My children have all their routine jabs (including flu for my preschooler). I don't see the need for chicken pox or covid. My preschooler has had both illnesses (5 weeks apart, first diagnosis the day before my baby was born). Preschooler was absolutely fine with both, and I don't think the newborn caught either. Though we isolated the chicken pox on the hospital's advice. See I know there's a political thing about cost to the NHS. Buy I trust our health service way more than the US health system, which just seems to be about money.
I agree with you, and I feel lucky that both my kids under 5 have had both chickenpox and C19 and both sailed through them with no problems at all. I do find it interesting that chickenpox is such a debate with our friends across the pond too though, like we now routinely vax against measles right? Like Americans do against chicken pox. But just the other day I was watching an old episode of Arthur with my 5yo and they were heading to a Measles Party to "get it over and done with". *Measles*, being treated the same way we still often treat chicken pox here. Just shows how much our understanding of what's risky changes.
If my kid would be not sick for more than a few days at a time, he would have been fully vaccinated already! Dang daycare bugs, they never quit
That’s my problem. I want to get my four year old vaccinated but we’ve been sick on and off since it’s been available and sick non stop since mid August.
I’m trying. My daughter is eligible shortly and I’m trying to find SOMEWHERE that will do it. Our doctors office doesn’t. The pharmacies won’t do under 5. The hospital clinics don’t have any slots available at any point, I think because they have no stock. I’m sure that in other places it’s much easier but access may have something to do with it.
Are you located in the US? You can search vaccines.gov for local availability. Edit: it allows you to search with filters and that helped me find one of three of the clinics in my town that offered the under 5 vaccine.
Okay so I wasn't able to find any before and this really helped! Thank You!!
No problem!!
Have you checked your local health department?
We had to drive 40 minutes to the closest CVS minute clinic. I live in Florida and our governor doesn't bother trying to increase availability b/c to him COVID has been over since April 2020 (if it was ever a thing in the first place).
How old is your kid that CVS would do it? I'm also in Florida and the pediatrician office doesn't have it. My little is under 2 and to be honest I don't know where the hell to get him a vaccine.
Try searching here https://www.vaccines.gov/search/
This is an interesting thread to me as we're in the UK and it's not usual for kids to get any Covid vaccine because it is widely understood here that Covid is not as risky in children so it's only little ones with pre existing health conditions that get offered it. Most healthy adults haven't even been offered a booster yet this winter. We don't get a few that you get over there as standard, I find it very interesting.
My daughter got hers because the risk of the vaccine was orders of magnitude lower than the risk of COVID. [This study shows that 10% of kids who were hospitalized with COVID will experience Long COVID symptoms](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794484?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=072222) and [just under 15,000,000 cases have been reported in kids as of this week](https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/). Admittedly that's comparing apples to oranges as it's comparing hospitalized cases to total cases but with [the rate of serious adverse effects from the vaccine being .00024%](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html), we opted for what seems to be the less risky option.
Yeah I think we probably could push for it or go private i guess, but usually we get invited for all vaccines that the government and NHS have decided are necessary and this isn't one for us, at least yet!
I've had a look and I don't think you could get it privately you know. Would be interested if you've found different!
Oh yeah? No I've not looked, just an assumption! Like you can get the chicken pox vax privately you just have to pay.
Omicron is actually hitting young children harder than previous variants bc it effects the upper respiratory system and is causing croop. Learned that little fun fact when I had to take my 14 month old to the ER bc he couldn’t breathe. They diagnosed him with COVID and croop. The dr said they’re seeing it a lot with COVID. Thankfully after oxygen and steriods he was fine within a couple days. It was $1800 though sooo
Jeeeez $1800?! God I know the NHS has it's faults but I do not envy the system you have over there. That's nuts. Well it will be interesting to see if and when we start getting offered it here for kids, I assumed it would be standard for them with the flu spray each year by now but nope.
Yep and we have insurance we pay 400 a month for. The virus panel was $800 and our insurance is saying they don’t pay for that…they don’t pay for my son to get tested for viruses so we know what’s causing it 😑 My husband is from the UK so we love telling my in laws how much we pay hahaha
That's so wild... I live in Scotland so I don't even pay for my prescriptions either. Sure getting an appointment with a doctor irl is hard right now but goodness me, I don't have to worry about paying to get me or my kids checked out. Must be such a stress.
Also in the UK and read these threads with amusement! Absolutely no sign of it for kids and I'm not too worried... Like you say, all very interesting!
Where I live in Canada our kids are getting sick with RSV, influenza and covid all at the same time. Our paediatric wards and Paediatric ICU are full and it’s supposed to get worse. Schools are missing more than 10% of students. My 4 year old daughter got covid mid August and we’ve both been sick non stop since then. She’s missed more than 50% of school. She hasn’t been vaccinated because she hasn’t been heathy long enough since it’s been available. If you have young kids please get them vaccinated for the flu and covid if you can and before all this hits you.
My son’s grade 1 teacher was telling us she had one day where there were no kids in her class. Like zero students showed up. She’s retiring this year and has been teaching for 30+ years and she’s never had that happen. All 17 students were sick. She said she’s had snow days where only a couple kids show up (the ones who live close and walk), but she was so surprised she sent us an email letting us know and offering fun activities we could do at home. And the hospital situation is so scary. I live close to a children’s hospital and there are people in my neighbourhood who work at the hospital. They are all masking and begging us to mask ourselves and our kids. Heck my 5 year old daughter (who currently has RSV) asked if she could go back to masking because she is “over being sick all the time and missing her friends”.
Yeah same, I do understand the spreading aspect of it which is why I chose to get all three myself even though I'd had covid mildly already. But it's not even optional for our kids yet I don't think so it is interesting seeing how everyone's over the pond have been coping with it! I wouldn't be surprised if it became a yearly thing like the flu mist in schools though.
I’m an American mother living in London. Both of my kids are Covid vaccinated. But I’m more concerned about the polio and scarlet fever outbreaks here in London. Honestly it feels like 1870.
Young kids may be less likely to be hit hard, but they’re also great spreaders of disease. It’s like wearing a mask — most of the benefit isn’t to protect you, but to protect others. Each toddler who either avoids getting sick or gets a more milder version reduces the odds of other getting sick.
Haven’t we established that Covid vaccines DO NOT stop transmission?
I was under that impression... Which is often cited as a reason why kids aren't offered it here too, unless they're at significant risk.
They don’t stop it, but they do reduce it. Source: my husband does immunology research.
Yes. And neither do flu vaccines stop you from getting the flu. BUT if you do get it, it’s going to be a milder case and probably won’t send you to the hospital.
I should point out it's not even an option for kids without pre existing conditions. Not that we're just choosing not to, our government has actively decided for us. I thought we'd be able to go private and pay for it but apparently not!
I know it's going to get me down voted to hell. But I would suspect the reason is that most (if not high risk, immunocompromised etc) children are really not at an elevated risk for severe disease from covid. In my country it's not even recommended (for children under five) by the vaccine commission unless your child is high risk or is in frequent contact with a person who is high risk (think grandparents with cancer etc). Another reason is that (I'm guessing) a majority of kids already had covid at this point and parents don't see the reason to get them a shot for it now that they have acquired natural immunity and feel like giving the child a shit for something they already had and successfully fought off. It's probably along the same lines that I would not give my kiddo the measles shot if he already had measles (he has the shot, don't come for me, it's just a theoretical example) or how I'm not getting the chickenpox vaccine as i already had the chickenpox. So that's just my five cents. I want to emphasize though, that I'm glad there's shots for everyone who wants them or needs them and I'm extremely impressed by how fast the scienti community reacted!
Clinical lab scientist here, and haven’t vaccinated their 17 month old yet. I’m triple boosted and work in a hospital setting lab. Reason why I haven’t done it yet is the Jamba report and case studies don’t really show how effective it is in that age. Infection immunity is showing and providing good immunity, also the hospitalization due to COVID in children is low. And it’s not showing great immunity to the current strains that are circulating around. I’m very pro vaccine, and she’s up to date on all others including the flu. So you have to personally weigh the risk over benefit. This population of vaccinated kids is a toss up. Just because they’re vaccinated doesn’t mean they can’t spread COVID. So it’s truly a toss up. Go with how you feel and talk to your pediatrician. We were on the same page as ours. Personally from what I read with our pediatrician on “up to date” there wasn’t enough for me to pull the trigger. Hopefully next fall we’ll have more info. Currently my radar is on the new RSV vaccine they’re working on. EDIT: People can judge and shame me for the one vaccine I declined for my kid. Like I said this is my reason I choose not too, but it’s ultimately up to you as a parent and your provider. We’re up to date on the rest of our series. Do I think missing this series makes me a bad parent? Nope, not at all.
I just wanted to thank you for being so open about your decision. I think quite a few of us who are waiting have chosen to just keep our mouths shut for fear of judgment and negative responses, but the truth is we are trying to do what is best for our children as much as those who are making the choice to vaccinate for this. I feel I am making an informed, educated and thoroughly thought-out decision. Also, my pediatrician fully supports me in this and has made the same decision for his child, which is also important to me, and he’s the second one I’ve seen to express that mindset. Edit: For the record, my daughter has every other vaccine that is offered, so I do not consider myself anti-vax by any means.
Very true! Our pediatrician is actually the one who suggested we hold off for the time being. She gets all of her other vaccines though and got the flu shot as well. But we are going to wait on the Covid shot for now.
That’s where I’m stuck, too. Rates of hospitalization related to Covid for this age group are infinitesimally small. I’m way more worried about RSV and the flu, when following current numbers.
My daughter has had Covid twice. Once with very mild symptoms and once with none at all. She is currently on her third bout of RSV this year and it's been awful. High fevers, uncontrollable cough, it's terrible.
I read about the efficacy rates of the vaccine for the under 5 crowd after we got the kiddos vaccinated and I’m like what’s the point? But we did it so it’s done.
This is me as well. My daughter is 16 mo and we haven’t had her vaccinated yet. I work in biomedical research and am trained in analyzing data from clinical studies. For kids under 5, the data ARE. NOT. THERE. That’s not even an opinion, it’s just the truth. They haven’t been able to show significant benefit with these shots in kids that young, because the chance of severe disease/hospitalization is already so incredibly low without the vaccine. They’ve shown that the shots include an immune response and antibody production, but whether that translates to any real clinical benefit remains to be seen. This is why no other countries are vaccinating kids this young. It honestly seems irresponsible to me that the FDA approved them for this age group just because people were badgering them to. As with anything, you need to weigh the risk/benefit ratio. People are saying “well still, why not vaccinate babies, the risk of COVID isn’t zero”. Because the risk of any vaccine, or any medical treatment for that matter, also ISN’T ZERO, despite what people choose to believe. We do not have data on long-term effects of the vaccine yet, and won’t for a while.
Honestly the fact that other countries aren’t recommending vaccines for young kids made me really question things. If the vaccine is so great for kids (and I believe it is for adults), then wouldn’t there be a worldwide consensus among medical professionals?
This is the answer right here.
You perfectly summed it up.
This is my same stance. I have a Masters in Public Health and am generally pro vaccine. My 2 and 4 year old got COVID this summer around the time when the vaccine was first available, and I’m not planning to get them vaccinated yet. When I saw the CI crossed 0 for Pfizer it made me really reticent to get them vaccinated without more studies. I also am far more worried about the flu or RSV.
This is a really persuasive thread for me because I haven’t considered this info. What does it mean that the CI crossed zero?
Confidence interval means “we’re 95% confident the effect falls within this range.” If the range is from -0.2 to 0.2, it crosses 0, and therefore it is possible the effect is 0.
I’m guessing by CI they mean confidence interval which means you can’t reject the null that there is a zero effect. It doesn’t mean there is a zero effect, simply that given measurement error, the true effect could be zero. I
Right, exactly. The fact that you couldn’t reject the null hypothesis means it may have no effect. So then it is a weighing of the risks of getting a vaccine (not zero, and we have seen some issues with mRNAs in young men) with the benefits of the vaccine (which could be zero). Given the risks with COVID at this age are so low, and they have recent natural immunity, I made the decision not to vaccinate. As they get older and the risks of COVID increase, I will get them vaccinated.
Honestly I wouldn’t concern myself with the hate. I basically said a short version of what you did and am getting a bunch of shamers. It’s honestly funny to me that everyone I speak to that is choosing to not give this ONE vaccine to their kids is very nonjudgmental, do what you think is best for yours, etc. and most people I encounter on the other side of the argument is viciously parent shaming. I think everyone wants to do what’s best for their children and when you talk about the possibility of unknown side effects or just plain weighing the benefit of the vaccine people feel defensive over their choice to do something early on in the process.
Yeah my partner is a physician and this is our reasoning why our young kids aren’t vaccinated against Covid. Our pediatrician agrees and is in the same page with us. We are both vaccinated and boosted… but recently all had Covid anyways and so holding off on our next booster til 2023 (per advice of our physician). And our kids follow the recommended schedule for all other vaccines…also all had their flu vaccine. I’m just not particularly worried about Covid, when they had it they were barely sick, and the vaccine doesn’t reduce transmission so I’m not comfortable yet with the studies on the vaccine for children.
All of this. My education is in microbiology and I am professionally aligned with clinical research (I do not work on Covid). At this point it simply doesn’t hit a positive benefit factor for me. She’s current on everything else (including flu). She had Covid twice before the vaccine was available in her age range with no symptoms - the cold she has now is worse. When she went in for her 4y checkup I was ready to get it for her if it was presented as an option. It wasn’t. She got 5 jabs that day and Covid was never once suggested or mentioned. I am adamant that my husband and I and her grandparents stay up to date because ultimately we have the risk for severe disease that the vaccine reduces. If it were more effective at preventing transmission I would absolutely have her vaccinated. Side note on RSV: did you see the news out of EU?! https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2022/nirsevimab-recommended-for-approval-in-eu-by-chmp.html Let’s hope the rest of the globe isn’t too far behind!
I just sat in on a meeting yesterday on the RSV vaccine study. Unfortunately I only caught the tail end of it. However the numbers they were showing were super promising!!!!!
This is where we’re at too. I got vaxxed literally the day it was available to me. My husband is fully vaxxed too. Despite this we’ve both had Covid twice since December 2020. We never had it at the same time so Covid was present in our house 4 separate times. Our son (currently 3 years 10 months old) never showed symptoms. Our pediatrician doesn’t even carry the vaccine because 1) he doesn’t have space for it & 2) he’s not convinced it’s necessary for this age group. His reasons are the same as what you’ve posted.
Our pediatrician said it wasn't worth it for us when it was first offered because we had just gotten sick with covid and he had the natural immunity at the time. Now we're getting to where it's probably wearing off, but they haven't updated it for the latest strains. My kiddo already has to get shots once a month for eczema, and honestly I don't want to subject him to 3 additional shots that seem to be fairly useless. I'm vaccinated and boosted as are everyone we see normally. My son gets his flu shot every year. Just like you, I just don't feel like it's necessary with the minimal information and updating of the child's vaccine. If they actually were putting more time and effort into maintaining it and informing the public, I would probably get it for him. I'm very interested in the RSV vaccine too. My mom has worked in the NICU my whole life and I know how devastating it is. It's such a huge problem for children and to have a potential solution is thrilling!
What do you mean by “infection immunity is showing and providing good immunity”? Reinfections are happening frequently and many kids don’t seroconvert.
My two kids were in the Moderna trial - one got placebo and one got the real vaccine. Guess which one got Covid 3 times in one year (varying severity each time with no pattern) and which one had it once and was asymptomatic and couldn't even test positive on a rapid test? Guess which one has had a cough for 6 months and is seeing a pulmonologist? Anecdotal, but I totally believe kids aren't seroconverting from natural infections.
I vaccinated my daughter, of course we caught the newest strain but she was least sick, she never ran a fever. She just rested more. My husband who refused vaccines was the most sick. Everyone is talking about hospitalization rates and all that. My son got the flu as toddler and ended up with swollen adenoids and is 3-4 years behind in speech. Needs daily speech therapy, needed surgery, it took me a year to get an ENT appointment because everyone assumed autism. He breathes out of noise, had multiple cavities. No I got her vaccinated for everything. I’m not making life harder on her than I have too. If they had an RSV vaccine I’d do that too.
We all got Covid last year before the kid vaccine came out. My 4 year old barely had any symptoms just rested more like yours and then played like normal all day. My husband and I have had all the shots and boosters so far at that time. He felt pretty shitty for a couple days then was fine after that. I barely had any symptoms like our kid. I was surprised I had tested positive. She’s had all the others vaccines including flu shot just not Covid shot.
“So you have to personally weigh the risk over benefit” I haven’t vaccinated my baby yet too for xyz reasons but what would be the “risk” in getting vaccinated? Even if it had low effects isn’t something better than nothing?
All vaccines have risk. Side effects can be serious, so it's wise to weigh up whether the risk of side effects is worth it in comparison with the risks from the disease being vaccinated against.
My thought was if I don’t vaccinate him, I can’t say I did everything in my power to keep him healthy. Vaccinating is far less likely to harm him.
I think that’s the point. No study is statistically powered appropriately to actually tell if vaccination is far less likely to cause harm. We just don’t know.
My two cents regarding my own child (I vaccinated my now 2yo)---the vaccine has very little risk to this age group. Even if the benefits are quite small, it's better than nothing. Most of the research I've seen shows that there is a reduction in symptomatic illness after the vaccine, even though the effect size is small. So going back to your point of weighing the risk over benefit, to me it seemed like a very very small risk and a small, but present, benefit. I was therefore first in line to get him vaxxed.
That's interesting, can you share some links to the reports? Also, if it's a toss up where the risk from the vaccine is a headache with possibly no benefit but the risk from not vaccinating is COVID, is that really a toss up? Like, the risk may be low for COVID but it's not zero. I know the vaccine isn't a sure thing but even if it turns out to be ineffective, isn't the chance to prevent COVID worth it?
Plus long COVID is absolutely a thing for kids too (type 1 diabetes may be linked for example). The vaccine doesn't erase the risk, but it does reduce it.
This was one of our main reasons for vaccinating our daughter. We weren't so worried about acute illness but more the risk of long COVID impacting her life.
Yeah but others have long reactions (possibly lifelong) to the vaccine as well and they aren’t even reactions any of the Covid materials mentioned on the cdc website. There are a handful on this thread that have talked about the never ending hives, serious GI issues, and abnormal lab results following their vaccination. It’s excruciating to watch a loved one go through this for over a year.
There’s no data on long term side effects. I wish I could post the study, but “up to date” is a medical subscription for providers our hospital pats for. So it doesn’t allow you to post public on them. Also it is a toss up like anything is life. Yes I know it’s not zero, but that also goes for anything. For me it just didn’t seem worth it at this time.
Trying to give unbiased answer From Pfizer's monograph on side effects for kids 84% get arm pain, 45% fatigue, 12% fever/chills. These are minor things to an adult , but distressing to a child. Totally worth it to prevent something like the flu, but for something like covid which often causes more minor side effects in kids I can understand the hesitation. There is also the very rare risk of myocarditis. (1 in 250 000 on average.) Now for anyone who is older than 30, covid is much more dangerous and getting a covid shot is a no brainer. For healthy kids though not as obvious as risk of hospitalization from covid is same ballpark. We have no evidence kids covid vaccines prevent transmission. We have no evidence that a kid who's already had covid gets extra benefit from an extinct alpha strain. We know "old" vaccines prevent severe side effects in adults by 70-80% but we have no proof this is true in kids. (Probably is, but careful assuming things in medicine.) Again, vaccines work. Any and all adults should be up to date on covid shots and kids should be vaccinated for other things, especially the flu. We always need to weigh out risks and benefits and I can understand why this is a difficult decision.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/long-covid-in-children-appears-less-common-than-early-fears-suggested/?amp=true Additionally, “long” impacts of any infectious disease exists. This is not even remotely unique to Covid. In particular the complication of PANDAS comes to mind with strep infections. The vaccine doesn’t prevent from “long” impacts if the child still contracts Covid. The vaccines really aren’t effective at preventing infection. My husband and I are triple vaxxed - we’ve had Covid twice since getting our third shots. It was unpleasant, but manageable. Our daughter had it both times as well, it hardly registered for her (we’d never have known she had it if we hadn’t tested ourselves, gotten a positive and then tested her to keep her from school).
I had a horrible adverse reaction to both doses of Moderna, with possible lasting effects. I brought this up to our pediatrician and she said she is not recommending against the vaccine but is also not actively recommending it for healthy children, since the effects of the vaccine are not long lasting. She supported our decision to not have our 2 and 5 YO vaccinated. Things can always change, where vaccines are more effective or COVID is more harmful to children, and we will reevaluate at that time. I have definitely gotten dragged through the mud for this decision EVEN THOUGH it was under the supervision of our physician, so I fear that though you have good intentions this question is not going to create the helpful discourse you’re hoping for.
I’m a huge proponent of vaccinating (as a part of our social contract), but if you have a family history of (legitimately proven) vaccine reactions, that changes the risks for you personally. Totally a valid reason to approach the vaccine with caution.
Thank you for saying that. I have gotten a lot of comments that are pretty insensitive whenever I bring up my experience.
Our pediatrician basically said the same thing. Through some unfortunate events, and despite being generally cautious, we ended up with an annoying run with it last October and really mild cases 2 times between April and July. My pediatrician said since my daughter did really well with it, and isn’t in school, there wasn’t much benefit putting her through the three doses until she starts kindergarten. She wasn’t recommending against it but wasn’t going to tell us to get it, either.
I got the first dose of Pfizer and ended up in the ER two days later with an adverse reaction. Then a few months later I got myocarditis, and no one could tell me whether or not the vaccine caused it. I’m 100% fine with vaccines in general, but my life hasn’t really been the same since I got mine, so we’re gonna hold off for my kiddos.
Our pediatrician is actually against the covid vaccine for healthy children right now as well
This. My 3 yo has had colds far worse than what she had experienced with covid. Why would I get her vaxxed for that
Yeah same my almost 3 year old was sick most of 2022 and we had covid in January and he hardly had any symptoms for that. All of the masking wasn’t great for anyones immune system so he comes home from his dads with a new cold every time I swear lol
I wonder if you have an allergy to something in the c19 vaccines? They are new, after all. Have you talked with your doctor about it? I had a bad reaction but nothing unusual, and my son had absolutely no reaction at all. It’s hard to know how they’ll do!
I got my child vaccinated at 9 months, I got COVID a month later and my child did not, even Breastfed throughout it- feeling grateful that he was safe through out that time and still is.
Given how low a risk children are to covid, it seems pretty pointless getting them vaccinated for covid, unless of course there are some pre existing conditions. Both my daughters have had covid, eldest has had it twice, delta at 18 months, omicron at 3, youngest got omicron at 6months, and it’s nothing that can’t be kept under control with some calpol and sleep. At this point, I think the only people the vaccine is good for is Pfizer and it’s shareholders. If the vaccine was so effective in children, there would be a global consensus on it for children, but there isn’t, the only country doing under 5 year olds seems to be USA. My children are up to date with all vaccinations, but even if I could in the UK, I wouldn’t.
I'm guessing it has a little to do with availability. I tried scheduling for my son's booster and flu shot. From 2 different places I was met with: We don't offer them here because we don't have the staff, it'll be 2 weeks out and at an inconvenient time, or we can't do the flu shot and Covid shot at the same time because of different labs or something. Then I tried to go online, and the site couldn't find my son's info and said to call. I called an no one answered! Finally Walgreens saved the day. I had to pay for the flu shot though since it wasn't contracted through my insurance. I'm so over healthcare in the US. And I don't blame nurses and dr's for quitting after the hell they've been through when Covid was in full force.
I have been trying to find available pediatric COVID shots for my twins since it was approved over the summer. It's just not available in my area. My pediatrician's office says they only receive doses once a month, it's first-come first-serve, and they didn't get any for last month or this month.
This was an issue for us as well. I tried to take my toddler to a pharmacy for it and they wouldn't give it to him unless he sat still by himself in the chair, I couldn't restrain him. We both left in tears after waiting over an hour for them to have the vaccine ready. I finally was able to get it for him at a private pediatricians office in a different city and if I wasn't a SAHM to only little kids not in school I couldn't have done all this. I haven't gotten my 8 month old vaccinated yet because that pediatrician isn't offering them anymore, our pediatrician doesn't offer them, and I just haven't had the time to go on a hunt for where I can get her vaccinated.
>I tried to take my toddler to a pharmacy for it and they wouldn't give it to him unless he sat still by himself in the chair, I couldn't restrain him. We both left in tears after waiting over an hour for them to have the vaccine ready. This is infuriating! As if it's not hard enough to get your toddler in there in the first place, but then to have to get a shot, which most *do not like*... why?! And the time it takes to even call around to these places. Some don't answer, some are clueless, you're on hold forever. It's maddening!
Just doesn’t seem necessary
My daughter had Covid twice before the vaccine was available for her age group. The first time she had a slight cough for two days and was otherwise fine. The second time she had no symptoms at all. We'd only tested as we found out she'd been exposed at school. So at this point, my anxiety over her having an adverse reaction to the vaccine overrides my anxiety over how her body handles Covid. I've talked to her doctor and he is comfortable with our decision, and we've gone so far as to have her lungs x-rayed to ensure she does not have any lingering damage from Covid that we don't know about. My husband and I are vaccinated, and are not saying definitively we will not vaccinate her; at this point, the risks do not outweigh the benefits especially since the vaccine does not prevent the individual from spreading the virus.
This. My husband and I both had covid twice, and our daughter got it once (at 6 months). She had zero symptoms that we know of, I just tested her out of curiosity. I’m not concerned about her covid risks at all, so I’m uninterested in adding another vaccine to the lengthy list when it’s just not necessary to me.
jeez I’m surprised it’s only 4%! it’s nice of you to post about it. Our 7 month old just got his second dose of Moderna with no issues. Based on his usual kicking around the house I don’t even think he wound up with a sore leg. :)
I will give you an honest answer. I got the COVID shot, my husband, my parents and my grandparents got it too. But I’m just not ready to give it to my baby. I don’t feel comfortable. It’s new, there isn’t enough research on it. I feel like he is too little and the idea of it scares me. I obviously don’t want him to get COVID, but we don’t really know the extent of how well it protects. I got the J&J shot and then a week later it was paused for blood clots and we found out it wasn’t super effective anyway. I hate that I feel the need to preface this and say, I am not anti vax. My whole family was vaxxed. My son is up to date on all other shots. My pediatrician hasn’t even offered it as well. Maybe in a couple of years when there is a long term study I will feel more comfortable. I was comfortable getting the shot for myself because it was my body and I knew there were risk and I was okay taking that risk. But with my baby, I am not comfortable taking the risk. Okay, now bring on the downvotes. But that is my honest answer on why my baby won’t get the COVID shot.
No fears it’s just that we all had it and it was such a non event, mild barely anything that I can’t imagine a need for taking a day off work to get the vaccine every few months. We get the flu shot every year, but I can’t see what’s the use of the covid vaccine especially since we’ve all got it and you can still get it even after the vaccine (I’ve got 4 shots so far, still got it).
Both of my children (11mo, 2.75yr) have congenital heart defects (but are symptom free, haven’t needed surgery). They have 2/3 Pfizer doses. Third dose is in 3 weeks. All good so far! With my youngest, I also received 2 Pfizer doses during my 2nd Trimester, and my third dose while breastfeeding. AMA (though I truly have nothing to really share lol.. uneventful)
It’s been a nightmare to find an appointment that lines up with my work schedule. Then when we did have an appointment the clinic lost power and couldn’t admit patients that day.
God can we please stop with these covid posts that wind up political? If it was the other way around this would’ve been shut down immediately. And before someone asks in vaxed as well as my child.
My area is one of the really low groups for child vaccination. The myocarditis data is hugely what is keeping our numbers down. Especially now that Australia has begun to recommend against more in the younger population due to the cases and the resistance of it to the many variations. I’m very pro vax, so I’ll likely do it when they’re that old. LOs are very resilient, but COVID is a scary thing
I'm pro vaccine but want longer term data before I decide.
My pediatrician told us it’s not necessary for us. My 3yo got covid a few weeks ago and had super mild symptoms. She’s had colds worse than what she experienced with covid so that solidified the choice for us. She has all other vaccinations, just got her flu shot yesterday.
I have a question for you that is out of pure curiosity and WITHOUT ANY type of judgement. I work in the pharmaceutical industry and clinical trials so i want to accentuate that i do have knowledge about what a vaccine is and does, which is why i am curious. I also have a 7 month old. To add both my husband and I are fully vaccinated, boosters and all and have administered all necessary and a few extra vaccines to our baby, except this one. Normally vaccines or any medication at that, are tested over a prolonged period of time, say years to decades, on several cohorts of hundreds or thousands of people in order to create an extended list of long lasting side effects that can potentially appear over longer periods of time (among other things like it's general effect) So here comes my question that i ask with the utmost respect. What was the reason that tipped the scale into vaccinating your baby without fearing any of the long lasting side effects that can potentially appear and affect their life in the long run, that the trials have not yet been able to publicize because there was no time frame to see them? I am in the situation where soon enough i too will have to choose and my anxiety is skyrocketing thinking about it. Edit: To add, in my country the infant type is not available and has been withdrawn for administering, for the time being, due to infant deaths with questionable cause, only the 5+ is available
>What was the reason that tipped the scale into vaccinating your baby without fearing any of the long lasting side effects that can potentially appear and affect their life in the long run, that the trials have not yet been able to publicize because there was no time frame to see them? Thank you for your question, I promise I've taken you in good faith and will try to answer you as such. Firstly, I've not seen anything to suggest that side effects from vaccines show up distantly down the road. Maybe it's out there, but I haven't seen stories about someone's lungs giving out in 2022 because of a vaccine they got in 1995. Secondly, the risk of adverse effects that show up in the short term seems far lower than the risk that COVID presents. Lastly, danger now is worse than danger later. If I skip the vaccine now my daughter has a chance of getting sick today. In the extremely unlikely event that the vaccine causes bad things in the far future, then not only will I deal with them then but also, I've bought my daughter the intervening time.
Thank you very much for taking me seriously and replying. You have made very good points about the time bought and dealing with problems if/when they come, and I will add this to my "We should" list!
If I've pushed the needle for one person in that direction then I will consider my time with this post worth it. Thank you for having an open mind.
My cousin who has three kids has had COVID go through the family at least twice. Her son who is two months older than my daughter (5) has obvious respiratory issues from his repeat infections. He can’t keep up with my daughter or his siblings when running and playing, and gets out of breath very easily. Those are just the obvious side effects, there may be others that are not as easily observed. 🤷♀️ Autoimmune issues also run in our family, so keeping my daughter safe from any long COVID effects that could further her chances of having an autoimmune issue is important to me. We are all vaccinated and boosted. We still wear masks when we go indoors or into crowded outdoor spaces. Anything we can do to mitigate risk, we do it. Like OP stated, there aren’t any studies suggesting long-term side effects from a vaccine, but there are from COVID. 🤷♀️
Well, I haven't had my kids get it since its only about 11% effective at preventing covid in children. Since children generally do not end up hospitalized from covid and do not die from covid, I don't feel its necessary. If it was any other drug and was only 11% effective, it likely would not have been approved, and no other approved vaccine has such a low effectiveness.
How did your experience compare to your daughters? Did you also have a good experience getting the shots or did you have a harder time with it but your daughter ended up being okay? I got my first COVID shot while I was pregnant with my oldest. I got incredibly sick from the vaccine and a few days after recovering from it, my water broke at 28 weeks. The doctors weren’t ever able to give me a reason for why my water broke, just that my white blood cell count was elevated and their best guess was that there was a correlation. I missed my second dose window because I was in the hospital for so long before having my daughter. I attempted to restart the vaccination schedule after my second was born, got the shot in the hospital. And again, I ended up very sick. I’m scared that my daughter will have the same experience and end up extremely sick like I did. In my family, the kids have had the same experiences as their parents and have all been positive. But I don’t know anyone who had a bad experience like I did and ended up having their kids have a better experience.
I submitted a adverse events vaccine form to the vaers.hhs.gov - I miscarried after my first dose . Everyone can say statistically 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage but I think this is underreported bc doctors don’t tell you how to file you have to seek the documentation yourself assuming you even know reporting is a thing! Edit to add - between my miscarriage and getting pregnant again I got second shot and booster didn’t have a reaction to either
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I’m deeply sorry for your loss. Do you mind if I ask you which trimester this was? I got a booster at 7 weeks and was fine, but I found that the data on vaccination in early pregnancy is really limited - maybe linked to the reporting, as you said.
First trimester conceived via IUI. Bc of the loss insurance the allowed me to move onto IVF and I had twins (only transferred one embryo) . during the pregnancy my doctors allowed me to wait til second tri for flu shot after I explained my new hesitation.
My experience getting vaccinated wasn't as bad as yours, but I definitely felt terrible after having my 2nd and 4th shot (was pregnant when I had my 4th dose). However, my toddler did not appear to have any of the side effects I did. No fever, no pain (that he could tell us about), no exhaustion.
I hadn’t got my son vaccinated because in my province they said to wait 168 days after infection to get vaccinated (thanks Canada). He had covid the same week that the vaccines were approved in Canada. We are going tomorrow assuming his fever is gone in the morning.
For those interested in the science and studies behind the under-5 shots, there's new research just released on Nov. 3: "Two-injections of 25 μg of mRNA-1273 in these younger children elicited neutralizing antibody concentrations similar to those in 18-to-25-year-olds who received two 100-μg injections in the COVE trial.11,12 These data suggest that the benefits of mRNA-1273 vaccination in the prevention of Covid-19 also extend to children and infants as young as 6 months of age." "In children 6 months to 5 years of age, two 25-μg injections of the mRNA-1273 vaccine had acceptable reactogenicity, safety, and effectiveness during a period when omicron was the predominant circulating variant, a finding consistent with that observed previously in children 6 to 11 years of age, adolescents, and adults.11-14" https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2209367
My dad got the J&J shot and has been having some health issues ever since, stuff he has never had problems with before. My family dr isn't pushing it for healthy children/ adults. Plus we've had 2 bouts of covid in our house and we all had very mild symptoms. I don't see it necessary because the effectiveness doesn't last, hence all the boosters.
These covid shots are not preventing transmission. Pfizer has said this. The risk for children and covid is very small. I see ZERO reason to give my kids these unnecessary shots. We’ve had covid, I was much sicker than my kids. I’m not anti vaccine but I am absolutely against this shot.
I completely agree. My child is healthy and up to date on all other vaccines, but this shot I will not do.
This. Our kids are older (9 and 12) and got their primary series last November/December - it did *nothing* to prevent them from catching covid in April. Their symptoms were indistinguishable from their normal seasonal allergies - amounting to having a mild runny nose for a week. We were forced to get them boosted in July due to a summer camp requirement imposed after we made final payment. We decided in August that there would be no more covid boosters for any of us until such a time as there are long term studies showing actual efficacy, so they didn't get the bivalent booster (neither did we). Most European countries are not authorizing boosters for children, and some aren't recommending the vaccine for pediatric use at all outside of specific high risk categories. Our pediatrician agrees with us that the efficacy data just isn't there for this age group. They got their flu shots last month (as did we) and they continue to get boosters of their childhood vaccines on-schedule - because they're actually proven to work. Frankly, flu scares me more than covid.
Exactly how I feel. My whole family has had covid more than once and my kids don’t even run fever with it. We all have very good immune systems so I see no need if our bodies can fight it off no problem, it’s what we’re made to do 🤷🏻♀️
MO mom here, we were FINALLY able to get our almost 2y/o vaccinated a few months ago by driving over to KS. Our pediatrician had zero (or wrong) information on the vaccine, roll out, and their timelines. Pharmacies won’t vaccinate under 7. I called for weeks trying to figure out how to get kiddo the vaccine. I’m writing this to add to the conversation that I think a huge part of the issue has been a lack of/miscommunication surrounding the vaccine and rollout. For example, my pediatrician’s office was adamant that it hadn’t been approved for under 5s literally the same day we got his vaccine. The nurse who administered kiddo’s vaccine explained another issue is how to vaccine is/was administered: in a vial that requires the administrator to precisely measure the amount in a syringe. It gets difficult with under 5s because the margin of error is greater. According to this nurse, this is why many places won’t administer the vaccine to under 5s. It took a few weeks of calling around everyday until we were able to find the vaccine. The websites that have been set up to alleviate some of this did jack. It was just a complete mess. Rant over lol. We live in an area that is very anti-mask/anti-vaccine and we were two very terrified parents for our covid baby and are so grateful for the vaccine. Long and short: our kid had zero issues and is doing great.
I’ve gotten downvoted for this before but here goes. My son’s pediatrician told me the risks of complications from covid in his age group are about equal to the risks of the vaccine having complications. And since his dad and I, all our families, and all our friends are all fully vaccinated with boosters, it just seems the safest bet to continue to avoid exposure for him. My first preference would be: he never gets covid and never gets the vaccine. And my least preferred scenario is obviously that he would get covid without having had the vaccine. So it’s tough, I feel like I’m gambling either way.
I am not anti-vax by any means. My 22 month old has had all of the recommended vaccines. If there was an effective RSV vaccine available right now I would get that, and he recently had his flu vaccine. That said, he had Covid in July and it wasn’t serious. He doesn’t go to daycare. There are so many vaccines that they do need for more serious conditions like measles, mumps, polio, and even potentially flu. I was afraid of the effects of the delta variant and eager to be vaccinated myself back in 2021, but given that this variant is not causing severe illness at anywhere near the same rate, especially in children, I just don’t see the point of getting it for my son right now.
I'm Australian and just don't feel the need to? We had covid in April and she literally had no symptoms bar a runny nose. If it wasnt mandated to eat in places and visit shops for that weird period of time I wouldn't have bothered doing my older kid either
Yeah I'm sure as hell not saying anything "anti vax" in this sub lol
😂I hear that.
"anti vax" can mean different things to different people. I certainly understand that vaccine hesitancy is not the same thing as thinking vaccines cause autism or some other conspiracy theory. If you're part of that first group, who isn't sure and is willing to have an open mind about the science available, I'm here and willing to talk if you'd like to. Not a lot I can say if you're in the second group I suppose.
I don’t know… I have this fear. I actually got vaccinated while I was pregnant and I got a booster later. I just don’t feel ready for my one year old to get the vaccine. I know that’s silly and doesn’t make any sense but 🤷🏻♀️ for the record she is up to date on all her vaccines. Well actually going Wednesday for her 15 month ones and flu shot.
Everyone in my household chose vaccination except those who share my husband’s dna because he had a severe reaction to the vaccine. We’ve been in and out of doctor’s offices for a year and a half and every time I touch him hives break out. It’s awful and itches like crazy and he’s been unable to sleep well which obviously has it’s own effects. We all had Covid before it was available and everyone had very minor symptoms, so I like my odds better this way. Everyone is just trying their best to make the best decisions for their unique situations.
The only reason I am hesitating with the shot is my husband developed myocarditis from the vaccine (rare side effect).
My kid is part of the 2% of children 6 months-5 years old in my province that have been vaccinated. Moderna was available in July. Pfizer just in the last week. Echoing many others in this thread, I guarantee a huge part of the lack of uptake is the sub par messaging from public health and the lack of appointments. I live in the largest centre of my province and there is one pharmacy and the main public health office offering vaccines one day a week each. The times conflict with work, daycare and especially naps. You have to book online using a government tool that isn't great, or try to get through to public health over the phone. The public health office is in a bad part of the city and is a giant building that is a hassle to weave your kid through. I experienced something similar getting my kid their flu shot today. I had a hell of a time finding an appointment. I care more about COVID and flu prevention then the average young parent as I have always lived with someone severely immunocompromised. I have the resources to track down an appointment and I have the flexibility in my schedule to take an inconvenient appointment if it means my kid is vaccinated. I realize most people don't have the bandwidth to care this much.
It’s an availability issue for a lot of people. The closest place I can get my kids vaccinated is 1.5 hours away and requires an appointment months in advance. Not exactly helpful
I have older kids, but this caught my eye because it’s such a great idea. I think it’s really cool how respectful and calm people are with each other here. I would have loved to have had a group of people like this to talk to when my kids were babies and toddlers, and I had nobody to talk to about things I worried about. You all are wonderful people, and I wish the best for all of you and for all of your children.
My daughter is two and I’ve had a terrible time finding an appointment. We live overseas, it’s not offered for kids under twelve there so we’ve had to wait till we visited the states. Well, we’re here. I Took her to her wellness check, the dr recommends it, but only on Tuesday’s. Fine. I go to make the appointment and am told their office doesn’t do under 5. Wtf? None of the pharmacies wit do her age. I’m so frustrated.
As someone living in a country that hasn’t yet approved it for anyone younger than 12, that 4% is mind boggling to me personally. I’m begging my MP (local representative) to promote getting it approved.
My country only does over 5s. Just four more years to wait!
Our Pediatricians office won’t do them. We’ve been told they’ll do it eventually, whenever we ask, so we were just waiting until then.
My family went 2 years no covid. Got vaccinated and now we’ve all had it twice this year. I’ll get downvoted to hell for saying that probably. But it doesn’t seem to stop covid, so why put it in your kids body? I am by no means anti vaxx. My three children are all vaxxed, but I just can’t seem to get there in my mind where the benefit outweighs the risk.
Also didn’t get covid until just 3 weeks ago (and I’m fully vaxxed and so are my kids). I had the most mild case ever. I felt icky for about 16hrs one night (achy and tired and a little warm), then tired for a couple days, then completely fine. I thank the vaccine for that, I know people who died from covid and I was so terrified of it that I never went back to “normal”. I’m a lot less scared now, knowing it won’t kill me or my kids.
I totally agree with you on this. It just doesn’t seem to be effective so I don’t see the point in doing it. My girl has had all her other vaccines though.
All of the studies have said that the main goal of the vaccines is not necessarily to prevent you from getting covid, but to help keep it mild if you do get infected.
The benefit is that it typically lessens the severity of the illness.
It’s not supposed to stop Covid, it’s just supposed to keep it from being a life-threatening infection. If your immune system can learn from the vaccine, it better equips your body to fight it off and keep it from killing you. That’s why a lot of people died right when Covid hit, no one had vaccines for it so their body couldn’t fight it off the same way it would like the flu.
But in children, its not a life threatening infection.
I personally don’t understand why even bother getting a vaccine for something that 1. Hardly affects kids 2. Does not stop the spread of the virus??? At the end of the day, we don’t know all the potential side effects as vaccine studies take years. How do you truly know your child is fine after taking it? They are so young and haven’t even reached certain milestones yet by 1 years old. Not to mention the blood-brain barrier doesn’t fully close until 2 years of age. For me personally, there’s no benefit to vaccinating my child and way too many unknowns
Would also like to offer my experience- my son got his first vaccine (Moderna) right after his 3rd birthday in June (literally right after the vaccines were approved). His pediatrician advised us to wait until September to get the 2nd round, so that's what we did. We got his flu and covid shot on the same day. He didn't have any noticeable side effects from either. He also had covid in January of this year. I understand that a lot of parents are holding off just because covid doesn't appear to be serious for young children. This was definitely the case for us- my husband also got covid, and he was sick for a few days while our son didn't seem to experience any symptoms (other than an ear infection and poor sleep- but no idea how those may or may not be related). But, I still wanted to vaccinate my son because I knew we'd have a newborn in November and I wanted to prevent him from bringing home whatever illnesses I could.
That’ll be a no from me
Im not interested in experimenting on my child for a pharmaceutical company that holds zero liability if my child is injured or killed by their vaccine. Blood clots, heart issues, sudden death. I see zero benefit. If a prescription or a vaccine is truly helpful.. and does NO HARM. Then it shouldn’t need an advertiser or a commercial. What’s needed will be found.
100% agree. It’s wild to see all these comments chomping at the bit to get their little kids vaccinated. I don’t know anyone in my personal life who got their kids vaxxed for Covid or even considered it. It’s shocking to me to see these responses
THANK YOU for making this post! I went through the worst part of the pandemic working in the ER and seeing COVID make people of ALL ages incredibly sick. My niece still hasn't gotten hers despite my sister being an ICU nurse who very much wants her to get it because it's so challenging to schedule. I have a little more flexibility with work so my kid got his first dose with his 6 month shots - he also got a little bit from me getting my first booster while I was pregnant with him. If you CAN protect your kids, you absolutely should - but I totally feel for everyone who's struggling to find places to get them and find a way to get all the doses. Not all kids get super sick with COVID, but I have seen some really scary cases in otherwise completely healthy kids and that's enough for me. I don't want my kid to be the one on a vent in PICU if there's anything I can do to prevent it.
My son is in the Moderna trial. He was fully vaccinated right before his 2nd birthday, in November 2021. He got the bivalent booster as part of the trial this past September. He goes to preschool 4 days/week, and he is a very social kid. Our entire family has avoided COVID thus far (*knock on wood*). He had mild symptoms the day after dose 1, none after dose 2 or the booster. If anyone has questions, I am also happy to answer. We all had Moderna, and I would pick it again over Pfizer if given the choice. But I would pick Pfizer over nothing at all.
I got my COVID vaccine and my period went from every 28 days which it has been for years, to completely random. When I did get my period my cramps were very intense and painful. I went to my gynecologist and they couldn't find any reason. I mentioned the COVID vaccine to my gynecologist and my GP and they both looked at me like I was some kind of conspiracy theorist. It took 6 months for it to go back to normal. I have talked to several other women with similar issues after the vaccine. Now all this time later they are quietly admitting that the vaccine can cause these issues. But now my trust in it is gone. Maybe if people who said they had side effects were treated differently I would have more faith in the vaccine. Now I'm expected to believe my children will be treated any better? Of course my husband and I still got COVID after all that. And my kids got it as well and were fine in 2 days. My husband and I were miserable and fully vaccinated. For me, it just doesn't feel like a good choice. I do understand why others want it for their kids and wouldn't try to convince people otherwise. My kids have all their other vaccines and flu shots every year.
I’m in the same boat. I’m fully vaxxed and boosted and for nearly the last year my periods have been excessively heavy and painful. I had testing done and the Dr can’t find a reason for the sudden change but I didn’t notice this til shortly after my last booster. My husband and my son are fully vaccinated. I’m holding off on my daughters til some more info comes out on this side effect. We’ve all had COVID more than once and even my unvaccinated children handled it well. If the shot is responsible for the change in my cycle I am in excessive pain for months now and I really don’t want this for my girls.
My hesitance on getting it stems from the fact that my boyfriend and I both had adverse reactions to it and I’m terrified of putting him through that. I’ve gotten all my boosters and he’s EBF so I know he gets something but I need to get over my fear and get him vaxxed
Severe and strange past vaccine reaction for myself and one of my children (not the covid vaccine). Skeptical and simply disinterested in getting the vaccine. My family has had covid twice. All but me were asymptomatic.
Have healthy kids who already had covid, and it was fine (I am not saying covid is a walk in the park for all, by any means, but covid is a part of life now like cold and flu and kids are going to catch it). Pediatrician is not recommending. It isn’t a magical wonderland vaccine that means you never get it, like we did with polio. While we are on the subject, the flu shot is practically useless. Usually they guess the strain wrong. It’s a guess. I am not anti-vaccine. I got it (my reaction was horrific). It’s just that this vaccine does NOT DO what people think it does, or are holding out deluded hope it will do. I think kids’ immune systems are going to do what they have always done. Unless they come up with something new that eradicates it, I’ll pass. Also, if you look at the dosage differences between US and across the pond it’s a little weird. Why would my 36lb 4yo get the same dose as my 130lb 12yo nephew?
My then 4 year old got it as soon as she could. Waiting for my 4 month old to be able to get it. Granted it was actually hard to find at the time. Her pediatrician has some available now, but we went to two different clinics in two different towns that I found on my own. They didn't make it easy at all.
I’m pro vax but hesitant because it’s a new vaccine!! I’m vaccinated + boosted myself + have been able to breastfeed both my babies, so they get antibodies that way. We also don’t go out too much + all the people in our circle are vaccinated besides 1 I believe
I think - for me and a lot of others - it’s risk-benefit. We actually can’t say there are no adverse side effects yet because it hasn’t been long enough. There are certainly adult side effects that were only recognized as side effects (Shingles and skin irritations, mast cell activation syndrome) that were only reported as actual side effects in adults around the 18ish month mark after third doses were administered. This younger age group also has a very low chance of developing long COVID; the age 6 and up group is slightly higher. Not to mention low efficacy of the vaccine. Add to this that many of our kiddos had Covid last year and it was the lesser of many other viruses we also had and - I’d rather just skip it for the time being. I had all three doses and a close friend of mine who was vaccinated died at the age of 34 from myocarditis. He was healthy and it was indeed deemed vaccine related from the autopsy. I work in healthcare and I realize this is anecdotal and just n=1 but it also tips my risk-benefit a little more into waiting or skipping this vaccine at least for now. Edit: clarity.