Trying hard to figure out if we rush out to get the 3-year old vaccinated. The entire pandemic we’ve been told covid presents a low risk to that age group. So do we vaccinate against a mild disease? Is the risk-reward really weighted to favor the vaccine?
I’d do it for “herd immunity” and all that, but, come on. Our vaccine rates are so low that is a pipe dream. High risk adults have opted out. Does a low risk preschooler really make a difference in that cause?
Yes, which is why it was approved. That’s what they were assessing for FDA approval. Covid is riskier to this age group than flu. If you get flu shots, it’s a pretty clear indication it already fits your risk profile.
Given all the colds my kid brought home from day care, if I could vaccinate against any of them I would in a hot second even if they don’t seem that bad.
The thing is, our daycare recently had 37 kids out with covid. TWO kids had a light cough. So it wasn’t even as bad as a cold. The only reason we even knew there was an outbreak is the owner required testing after a teacher got it. (She had a mild fever, and light cough.)
I know I do not have a statistical sample, but every kid I know who has had the flu has been WAY sicker than any kid (not just preschooler) with covid.
Do you happen to have any data handy about the covid vs. flu risk at that age group? Not just deaths, but hospitalizations?
A quick google search didn’t give me anything reliable- so if you’ve already found it…
The article I linked above from YLE talks about covid deaths in children vs other common illnesses over the last year or so
Thanks- that’s helpful.
I’ll forward that to my husband. He has way more knowledge of immunology and virology than me, so ultimately the decision is his.
I read this one, but it is applying pediatric to anyone under 18. (Which is true, but not helpful in this case.)
I haven’t listened all the way through, but the FDA webcast this morning is up on YouTube and they say there will be a discussion of risk vs benefit. It’s 30 minutes long.
It’s 9:06am here in LA…I got through to our study site reception but no one from the office was there yet so I left a message asking if we can be unblinded. I have no chill.
Honestly a big part of my calculus is that vaccination would mean:
The quarantine bit is a good point. My daughter got to stay in daycare when all the rooms except one closed because she was vaccinated. (She moved down to the other room.)
Masks are gone here. We held out a few months longer than most at daycare, and at grocery stores, but I’ve given up at this point except for medical appointments, where they are obviously required (but still only about half of people have them on correctly). We wore them on the plane to our vacation, but gave up on the way back. Peer pressure got me. If literally no one else is wearing them, I just can’t make my kids do it.
We will call the pediatrician to see if we can get the moderna vaccine. My daughter had such a negative reaction to the pain of her shot, that I just don’t want my son having 3 of them. This is the same daughter who has no issues with her flu shots at all, not even an “ouch”, just a “where’s my band aid” and can get a covid test without flinching, but her first covid shot hurt her so much, I had to hold her down screaming for the second one. (And now I’m scared it is going to ruin her for life on vaccines…)
I think my pediatrician said around age 4 or 5 is when kids start being scared of shots because they remember. Developmentally earlier than that they just don’t remember. Kiddo was like your daughter, took shots like a champ, but he was definitely not a fan of his first Covid shot (he was 6.5 at the time) and getting the second one done took several attempts at CVS and then we ended up at the pediatrician’s office where the nurses have no qualms about holding down a kid to do it in his thigh.
Afterwards he was like “Oh! That was it? Yay I did it!” He is still much more aware of shots - I’ve assured him for the flu shot we can do the nose one, not the arm one and he doesn’t need any more shot-shots till he’s eight (number pulled out of my ass in the moment).
Oh, also, an idea for older kids - I was very much this kid. Logic has no place in this, there was no talking me out of how it wouldn’t be that bad, etc. but one day I heard about numbing the arm with a fast food shake. We went to McDonalds before my doctor appointment, I sucked it up slowly while holding it on my arm and then took the shot like a champ. The numbness helped but really it was me believing it wouldn’t be that bad.
One last thought - maybe borrow/buy a shot blocker? I don’t think those were around when I was a kid, I wish they had been.
I had my first shot at one of those big drive through clinics where the nurse casually jabbed me through the car window and it hurt a LOT. My booster was at the doctors office where they grabbed the muscle and I barely felt it — so maybe it’s partly dependent on who’s giving the shot?
I think so too. I recall the covid shot hurt a lot more than other shots. And I think she did remember the flu shots, because she prepped my son for it. “It’s OK if you cry when they hurt you, but don’t worry, Mom will give you a cookie.”
My 3-year old knows for sure what covid tests are and remembers those…say “covid” and he covers his nose and won’t let go.
I like the McDonald’s shake idea. Kids LOVE shakes. So does this Mom. We don’t get them very often.
whoa, covid shot didn’t even register for me both times (at different clinics) but also I barely feel blood getting drawn anymore. Probably because I’ve been giving myself shots for 8 years but, suprised to hear they hurt at injection.
I’ve had 4 Covid shots, and honestly I think it depends on who gives them and what spot they hit on your arm. One I couldn’t even tell I’d had the shot. The last one, it did hurt, but my arm wasn’t even sore the next day.
I also bribed my kid for the second shot that we’d go get ice cream after, as a distraction technique I asked him what toppings he thought he might want. He said all of them. He did indeed get (nearly) all the toppings (protip get a bigger size bowl - small ice cream in a medium size bowl).
The best shot experience I’ve had in my life was right before starting kindergarten when the pediatrician just handed me a maze in some kid’s magazine to complete which kept me so absorbed that I had to be told later that the vague poking I felt in my back was actually me getting all the age 5 vaccinations at once and not noticing a thing. Definitely a trick you can only pull once though.