What you need to know about covid vaccine for kids 12-15

As covid-19 vaccination efforts ramp up, many are beginning to wonder whether children should be vaccinated and when.

Dr. Joseph Aracri, chair of Allegheny Health Network’s pediatric institute, answers questions about vaccinating younger populations.

Children are less susceptible to severe illness from covid-19, so should children get the covid-19 vaccine?

“We are recommending it for kids for a number of reasons. The most important thing is looking at the risk-benefit ratio. The risk is very minimal when it comes to the vaccine. The benefit — even though we know most kids don’t get severely sick with covid, there have been some deaths associated with covid, and severe illness as well. The additional benefit is keeping covid low in the community so we can keep schools open.”

Are covid-19 vaccines safe for kids? Will children have side effects from the vaccine?

“There’s been significant studies following the safety profile of the vaccine, especially when it comes to kids. … The side effects are actually less than in the adult population. The side effects are generally the same, but they’re less severe than they are in the adult population. Kids are very good at fighting infection.”

What impact would vaccinating children have on curbing community spread?

“Whenever you think of the pediatric population, they do make up 25% of the population. And the one thing that’s very interesting, now that we’ve been pretty successful at immunizing adults, we’re seeing a new rise in cases in kids. It’s the whole population — we’re one population, we’re one community, one country, one world. The most we can do for defeating the virus is vaccinating as many people as possible.”

When could we start to see mass vaccination efforts for children?

“If it goes as we expect, by the end of the month.”

Do you anticipate Moderna and Johnson & Johnson will also have vaccines approved for children in the near future?

“Moderna already released results saying they’re getting good results 12 and up. I have not heard anything from J&J yet. But my anticipation is that Moderna would follow suit as Pfizer did.”

Will the vaccine be required to attend school or play sports?

“I think in a private setting, the private sector, there can be requirements. In a public setting, I don’t think there will be requirements. We know of a lot of colleges that are already recommending it to go back to school. It all depends on the venue. I don’t think you can make somebody get it, but I think there will be perks for getting it.”

Will the FDA authorize the vaccine for children younger than 12?

“There have been studies as far as 6 months and older. But I don’t anticipate those until 2022.”