How do parents prepare their children for the COVID vaccine?
Each week, Chronicle health reporters field questions about the latest on COVID-19, vaccines and pandemic living. In this week’s COVID Help Desk: what you should know about shots for tots and whether boosters change your vaccination status.
My child is afraid of needles. How do I prepare them for the COVID vaccine?
Two words: role play. Assuage pre-shot jitters by acting out the vaccination process at home, said Dr. Kawsar Talaat, a lead vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins.
Start the role play by explaining what the child can expect, Talaat said. Next, clean the child’s arm with an alcohol swab or wet paper towel and use a ballpoint pen to administer a pretend shot. (Do not actually puncture the skin!)
It’s also important to have a conversation about why shots are important, said Dr. Annamaria Macaluso Davidson, of Memorial Hermann.
Try: “Vaccines may hurt for a moment, and give a little pinch, but they help give medicine to keep you strong and not get sick,” she said. Or try: “I sometimes get nervous with shots as well, but I know it will be over soon, and I am thankful that we have the medicine or tools to help protect our bodies and keep us well.”
Finally, think of a fun activity — like a game or a treat — to enjoy with your child after the shot, Davidson said. Just remember: They may feel some soreness and fatigue for a few hours.
Can any child between the ages of 5 and 11 get the COVID vaccine once it’s approved?
Houston-area hospitals and clinics prepared to inoculate elementary-aged children this week after months of anticipation among parents. The child dose is 10 micrograms, one-third of the adult shot.
Any kid between the
ages of 5 and 11 can get the vaccine, except those who have an active COVID case. Children with the rare inflammatory syndrome known as MIS-C should also avoid inoculation until their cardiac function returns to normal.
Additionally, kids who have had severe allergic reactions to prior vaccinations should not receive the COVID vaccine. Doctors
say that’s a tiny cohort, and the U.S. has stringent methods for monitoring abnormal reactions that may occur.
Severe vaccine reactions are “very rare events” that affect as few as one in a million children, said Dr. Pedro Piedra, a virologist at Baylor College of Medicine.
Before administering the first dose, healthcare providers will ask if a child has exhibited any prior allergy to vaccines, Piedra said. Parents who are anxious about the possibility of rare complications should opt to have their child vaccinated at a hospital or pediatrician’s office, he said, rather than a pharmacy or drivethrough clinic.
Will the meaning of the term “fully vaccinated” change as booster shots become more common?
All three major vaccines in use in the U.S. remain highly effective at preventing COVID hospitalizations and deaths. That won’t change any time soon, said Talaat, and neither will the term “fully vaccinated.”
Doctors agree one dose of Johnson & Johnson or two doses of Pfizer or Moderna are enough to confer full inoculation. People who are under 65 with healthy immune systems do not need additional shots, though that may change in the coming years as the virus mutates.
For now, Talaat believes the conversation about boosters is a distraction.
“I think it is disturbing that, in many part of the country and the world, we are giving out more boosters than first doses,” the Johns Hopkins researcher said. “The boosters are a bonus, but they aren’t going to get us out of the pandemic.”
When will younger kids under 5 be eligible for vaccines?
Many parents are eager to see their youngest kids vaccinated against COVID. The good news is that a version for children under 5 is in the works. The bad news is that it may be several months away.
The shots will most likely become available after New Years, said Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, where researchers are conducting clinical trials.
“We are doing all we can to conclude vaccine trials for children under 5 before the end of 2021, but we are likely to see authorization for children under 5 in early 2022,” Versalovic said.