Children are urged to receive shots soon
Parents hoping to get their kids fully vaccinated by the new year should sign up for their first COVID-19 shots this week.
Federal officials authorized the pediatric Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 this month, and health experts say the shots are especially crucial heading into the holiday season. It takes five weeks to become fully vaccinated against the virus, with three weeks between the two required shots and an additional two weeks for immunity to develop.
“There’s no need to wait — time is of the essence,” said Dr. Jim Versalovic, the pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. “The way to protect children is to deliver the vaccine now so that it’s timely and gives them the protection they need.”
Though it’s too late for kids to be fully vaccinated by Hanukkah or Christmas, doctors say any protection — even one shot — is better than none. Parents hoping for full inoculation by the new year should schedule a first shot by Friday.
“It’s a virus that can be really serious for some people,” said Dr. Tess Barton, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at UT Health San Antonio. “If you can get protected against this virus before you start gathering with your family, you have a less chance of getting the virus yourself — and even if you’re a low-risk person, like a kid, you have a lower chance of transmitting it to someone else.”
Roughly 8.2 percent of Texans between ages 5 and 11 — about 240,000 children — have received at least one dose. Nearly 10 percent of children in that age group nationwide have gotten the shot, according to data from the Cen
ters for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas is lagging slightly in its pediatric vaccine rate behind other big states, including California and New York, but it is outpacing Florida. By Sunday, California had inoculated 9.3 percent of its 5- to 11-year-olds, while New York has accounted for 12.2 percent.
About 5.8 percent of children in Florida have at least one shot.
Some parents have expressed concerns about vaccinating children under 12, but there is not yet enough data to gauge how widespread those feelings are in Texas. Nationally, about 30 percent of parents said they definitely would not take their kids to get the shot, according to an October study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Doctors have heard various reasons why parents are hesitant — some fear side effects or don’t believe in the vaccine’s efficacy, while others are taking a waitand-see approach or haven’t had time to schedule an appointment.
“It’s so important to continue to emphasize the importance of disease prevention through vaccination, just as we’ve been doing since the 1950s,” Versalovic said. “You need to remind everybody: This is nothing new. The technologies to make the vaccines may be new, but the vaccines are as highly safe and effective as any vaccine we’ve had.”
Side effects from the pediatric vaccine are very rare — and far less common than the complications associated with a child’s coronavirus infection, Barton said. Political environment is also a factor, experts say. Texas is firmly Republican, and state leaders have acted repeatedly to ban vaccine mandates.
“I think that you do have a fair number of people who are aligning their vaccine practices with the sort of politicized information that they may be getting,” Barton said. “You have people trusting right-wing media or social media more than they’re trusting their physicians or the public health sector.”
The state health department, meanwhile, has urged parents to get their kids vaccinated. Officials stressed last week that the pediatric shots are widely available at physician’s offices and pharmacies across the state.
“The vaccine is both safe and effective,” said Lara Anton, a department spokeswoman. “It will help protect children from severe complications of COVID-19, and it will also help reduce the spread of the virus to other people in their family and community.”
As of Sunday, roughly 15.8 million Texans have been fully vaccinated — about 58.5 percent of the state’s 5-and-over population. Federal officials have also recently approved COVID booster shots for all adults who received their second shot at least six months ago.