There are a lot of parents who are asking questions about the side effect profile
of the available mRNA vaccines in children and adolescents, and I think it's a good question.
What we know now in Ontario is that adolescents in general have fewer side effects to the mRNA
vaccines than any other age group so far which is which is very reassuring.
A lot of these side effects are mild and non-specific, such as headache, feeling tired,
feeling a little bit under the weather, and these almost universally go away very very quickly.
What is more common in teenagers as compared to older people is heart inflammation.
Now, this occurs somewhere between one in five thousand to one in ten thousand
teenagers who get the mRNA vaccine. Which is you know is quite rare but does occur.
So the vast majority of side effects in teenagers does not result
in a need to see a physician or other healthcare worker and does not result in hospitalization.
I think it is very likely that a COVID vaccine will
produce more benefit than harm in the vast majority of children and teenagers.
Severe disease is rare in pediatric age groups from COVID, but it does happen. As well, there are
other post-infectious problems like multi-system inflammatory syndrome which can be very severe
and often require hospitalization. As as well the side effect profile of the COVID vaccines is quite
good with serious side effects only happening very rarely. For all these reasons, I think that the
COVID vaccine would be a good idea for the vast majority of Ontario's children and teenagers.
The safety process for the development and the evaluation of vaccines
is more stringent, more protocolized than for just about any other medication. I truly believe that
vaccines are about the safest intervention that current medical science has. And we've already had
hundreds of millions of people across the world immunized with these vaccines, so I would say that
we have a very good idea what the safety profile is. And for that reason I would say that again,
getting a vaccine is probably the safer choice for the vast majority of our children.
What I've said before and what I will continue to say is that even though severe COVID-19 disease
is rare, it can happen. And so I think there are lots of children and families out there
who are keen to get vaccinated because they think that's the safer choice, and I think that's a
good reason to get vaccinated. I think there's a lot of children families out there who aren't
necessarily worried about the child themselves getting sick, but are worried about more fragile
friends and family members, such as elderly people living within the household or immunocompromised
people within the household or at school, and I think that's also a very good choice for children
who are thinking about getting vaccinated or not. Finally, I think there are a lot of kids out there
who just want to go about their daily lives without missing school or other activities
and I think you know getting a COVID-19 vaccine for that reason is a safe and responsible choice.
I think the vast majority of parents who are skeptical are just trying to do the best they can
for their families and for their children and and I think that's laudable. I would encourage them
to seek out information at trusted reliable sources like their family physician.
Or from websites from reputable sources, such as kidshealthfirst.ca, which is put out by the
Ontario COVID-19 vaccine table, or the information that's put out by their local public health unit.
Finally, there is an information hotline in Ontario that can be called by parents
or children who have questions about the vaccine.
So, I think always trying to get more information is a great idea.