How many CT parents will get their young kids COVID vaccinated?

Natalee Pei’s kids are far too young to be vaccinated. Her oldest is just 2, but the Stamford resident said she would not hesitate to get her children vaccinated against COVID-19, if they were eligible.

“If the CDC and our pediatrician decide the cost benefit swings in favor of vaccines for children, then we will get our young kids vaccinated as soon as possible,” Pei said. “Even though COVID risk to children is small, risks associated with vaccines are even smaller.”

A Food and Drug Administration panel on Tuesday approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children ages 5 to 11. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will need to give the final authorization, which could come as soon as next week, before the vaccine is administered to young children.

For Pei, getting children vaccinated is important not only “for their direct benefit,” but also “for the benefit of all.”

The vaccine, she believes, can “lower the risk that they contract COVID and serve as a reservoir for viral mutations that make this disease more severe, transmissible or vaccine-resistant.”

But Pei may be in the minority. Public health experts say some parents may not opt to get their younger children vaccinated.

"It’s going to be divided into two camps — people who absolutely want the vaccine as quickly as possible and those who are going to absolutely refuse the vaccine," said Ulysses

Wu, chief epidemiologist for Hartford HealthCare.

Wu said children often don’t have as severe symptoms when they catch COVID, but they present a risk to others.

“Kids do OK by and large, but they are giving it to people who are not doing OK,” he said. “We have seen patients who got it from their kids or their grandkids and they are dying.”

The state on Tuesday reported an additional 254 COVID cases had been confirmed in the previous 24 hours, with 2.13 percent of all tests returning positive results.

There were 10 fewer COVID hospitalizations, dropping the statewide total to 202 patients, the state data showed.

Younger children in Connecticut have not contracted COVID-19 at the same rate as adolescents and adults. Of the 401,000 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases in the state, nearly 26,000 of them have been among children 9 years old and younger.

As of last week, 69.9 percent of children ages 12 to 15 in Connecticut had been vaccinated against COVID-19, but it initially got off to a slow start.

When vaccinations among that age group began, 16.5 percent of eligible adolescents were vaccinated the first week in May — it didn’t hit 50 percent until two months later in the middle of July.

Rick Martinello, medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Health, said he expects about the same amount of children ages 5 to 11 to get vaccinated if they become eligible.

"My suspicion is we are going to see a third, maybe upwards of 50 percent to get vaccinated" quickly after eligibility expands, he said.

A state Department of Public Health presentation showed that officials anticipate about 278,000 Connecticut children between the ages of 5 and 11 will have started the vaccination process by next March.

Wu said he expects a majority of parents will elect to get their kids vaccinated, particularly if any mandates are put in place.

“The real question is going to be when mandates will start to happen, what is going to happen? What is going to happen when a vaccine is needed to go to school or play this sport? What will this have on the percentage of people getting vaccinated?” Wu said.

Martinello highlighted that federal regulators have an "incredible system" to track adverse effects of the vaccine, which flagged past issues including a rare blood clotting condition seen in a small number of people who received the Johnson & Johnson shot.

“We are very familiar with its safety profile, we are not anticipating any surprises in that population but, of course, until we start vaccinating large groups of these children, there’s a fair amount of uncertainty,” Martinello said.

Martinello said he expects the vaccines to be approved for younger children.

"So far, I think with hundreds of millions of doses given to people ... tens of millions given to adolescents, I think we feel very comfortable moving forward and bringing this vaccine to children,” he said.