A Sask. virologist offers her advice on how to prepare kids for COVID-19 vaccination
CBC
This week, Pfizer officially asked Health Canada to approve its COVID-19 vaccine, created in partnership with BioNtech, for use in kids ages five to 11.
Authorization of an mRNA vaccine for children under 12 would be a major step, since there are currently no COVID-19 vaccines authorized for children that age in Canada.
For some advice on how to talk about vaccination with younger kids, CBC Saskatchewan spoke with Alyson Kelvin, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infection and Disease Organization (VIDO) in Saskatoon.
She's also a member of the World Health Organization's advisory committee on COVID-19 vaccine design.
What would you say to parents who may be unsure about letting their kids get a shot?
Kelvin: [This is] really exciting because basically kids have been left out of our priorities during this pandemic. They were thought of last in our priority list. So having vaccines for kids is really important.
By vaccinating children, we're stopping the chain of transmission. If kids aren't being infected, then they're not able to pass along the virus.
We know that kids typically develop less severe disease, or COVID-19, than adults, but they still can develop severe [cases]. Vaccinating them will prevent severe disease.
It will prevent other conditions as well that kids are known to be susceptible to after being infected. This includes a multi-inflammatory system in children, a syndrome that happens in kids after they're infected with SARS-CoV-2 [the coronavirus that causes COVID-19]. It causes inflammation throughout the body.
Kids are also susceptible to long COVID. We know from some studies that about 10 per cent of kids who recover from COVID-19 may experience symptoms for months after being infected.
It's really important that we start vaccinating children so that they can get back to what is important to them ... their regular activities, which is important for their development.
Some parents are concerned that enough kids haven't been vaccinated to call this a successful trial. You work with the World Health Organization — what are your thoughts on the data?
Kelvin: I'm very encouraged by the safety profile of the vaccine in kids.
Even though children in this trial received a smaller dose of vaccine, their antibodies — which will protect them from disease and infection — were brought to similar levels as kids between the ages of 16 and 25.