Safe, effective COVID vaccine essential for children’s futures
As America continues to search for a solution to the coronavirus crisis, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the health and safety of our children depend on the development of a vaccine.
This may come as a surprise to many. After all, COVID-19 mortality rates are lowest among children and young adults. But the health of a child isn’t limited to whether they contract COVID. Infection rates only tell part of the story.
A recently published report has found that calls to child protective services throughout Virginia have declined by nearly 50% since the start of the pandemic. Due to school closures and stay-at-home policies, pediatricians worry that incidents of child abuse throughout the commonwealth are going unreported. Without the presence of teachers, counselors and other caring people to monitor a child’s well-being, signs of maltreatment may be missed, putting kids at risk.
Furthermore, the pandemic’s wrath toward children is being felt in other less obvious ways. For example, the economic difficulties of families expose kids to food insecurity and this in turn is exacerbated by school closures; schools provide many poor children with breakfast and lunch. Children under stress suffer increased rates of mental health problems, which have skyrocketed throughout this year. In addition, many parents have postponed critical routine pediatric and dental visits because they don’t want to risk exposing their children to the virus. Routine immunization rates have tumbled, subjecting kids to vaccine preventable diseases.
Without question, the development of a COVID-19 vaccine is essential to protecting our children and their families, along with masking, hand hygiene and social distancing. We need to get back to normal.
Throughout Virginia, the government is preparing for an unprecedented vaccination campaign, spending upwards of
$75 million to immunize hundreds of thousands of Virginians against COVID19. And although only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved by the Food and Drug
Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control so far, a vaccine from Moderna is waiting in the wings. This tremendous progress wouldn’t be possible without the cumulative efforts of the federal and state governments and the pharmaceutical industry.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers have been working day and night to develop a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19. Operation Warp Speed — a partnership between the federal government and private companies within the pharmaceutical industry — has sought to deliver some 300 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by January. If that timeline is met, the COVID19 vaccine will be the fastest-developed immunization in history. But speed isn’t everything; safety is equally important.
On that front, companies are working together with America’s regulatory agencies to ensure that, once developed, the vaccine adheres to the highest safety standards. The FDA and CDC are closely monitoring the clinical trial process and are using “many strategies to assess vaccine safety, to identify health problems possibly related to vaccines, and to conduct studies that help determine whether a health problem is caused by a specific vaccine.” Moreover, upon the vaccine’s approval, public and private entities will continue to analyze the data surrounding COVID-19 vaccines for years.
These precautions will help us ensure the safety and efficacy of the coronavirus vaccine. As a result, more Americans will have access to a life-sustaining immunization faster than ever before. The United States will soon have the tools to overcome COVID-19. And in doing so, we will be better able to protect our kids in the process. The true test of a society is how it treats its children, and thanks to these efforts to prioritize children, America is on course to pass with flying colors.
Carolyn Moneymaker, MD FAAP, is on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves as the chair of the Virginia Immunization Coalition. She is also a pediatrician with Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.