Houston. The Woodlands a 48
minute commute into town and e.
>> Andy, thank you. KPRC 2 is
your vaccine central on
Saturday, the CDC approved the
COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old.
6 months to 5 years old.
But some parents.
May still be on the fence to
get their child vaccinated.
Joining us this morning to
discuss this is Doctor Christina Bryan, Pediatric
Christina Bryan, Pediatric
infectious disease specialist
at Norton’s Children’s
Hospital. Good Morning. Thank
you so much for joining us. Good morning. So we’ve seen
Good morning. So we’ve seen
this situation with the
pandemic kind of ebb and flow
given where we are now.
With the COVID-19 pandemic,
would you say it’s important for parents to get their
for parents to get their
children vaccinated and
boosted? >> Absolutely. So what we know
>> Absolutely. So what we know
is that COVID-19 can be a
serious illness in young
children. Judge idea that it’s
no big deal is really kind of a since the start of the
since the start of the
pandemic. There have been more
than 2 and a half million cases
in kids between 6 months and 4 years of age and 20,000
years of age and 20,000
hospitalizations, half of those
hospitalizations have been and
kids who are otherwise healthy.
I don’t have any chronic
medical conditions in. So it’s just really hard to predict who
just really hard to predict who
is going to get sick from COVID
each week even have deaths in
young children. There been 200
deaths so far touch. And Jen,
6 months to 4 years of age.
So prevention remains really
important.
>> Give us a quick rundown here
who is currently eligible to
get vaccinated and boosted.
>> So everyone in the U.S. 6
months of age and older is
eligible to be vaccinated.
Each boosters are currently
recommended for those 5 and
older.
>> So if a child has had COVID
did they still need to get
vaccinated? >> They do. You Well, maybe
>> They do. You Well, maybe
not right The CDC says
minimally wait until you’re
recovered from COVID-19, but
you might consider waiting up
to 3 months because reinfection within that first 3 months is
within that first 3 months is
pretty uncommon. You’ve got a
strong immune response. But
after that, it starts to wane. And we know that people can be
And we know that people can be
reinfected each. There is a
study done right here in
Kentucky and adults, adults
who had COVID and then got
vaccinated, which were half as likely to get COVID. Again, we
likely to get COVID. Again, we
think that will be the same
person for children.
>> And I know we get this
question a lot from parents
that they want to know what
risk is a COVID vaccine. Perry and children compared
Perry and children compared
to the risk from a COVID
infection.
>> That COVID infection carries
a lot more risk. So the vaccines that are available
vaccines that are available
for children which have been studied intensively for safety,
studied intensively for safety,
in kids tend to have fewer side
effects than adults and the
effects that can see after
COVID-19 vaccine are pretty
similar to what we see with
other retain childhood vaccines. are like
childhood vaccines. are like
where the shot goes in. Maybe
some redness and swelling some
kids will develop fever at last a day or 2 if it some kids
a day or 2 if it some kids
might develop swollen
lymph nodes the entire GT but
they recover quickly. That’s
not always the case. With
COVID-19, as you know.
>> Right. And many parts of the country have seen an uptick
country have seen an uptick
in cases. So what people need
to understand about the possibility of new variants
possibility of new variants
are subvariants.
>> So as long as COVID-19 is
we’re likely to see new variants touch. And it is very
variants touch. And it is very
important for people to protect
themselves. Even people who
live in communities where
there’s not a lot of COVID-19
right it is likely that numbers will tick up in the And so
will tick up in the And so
now’s a good time to protect
your kids.
>> And what about the current
vaccines that are they going to be effective against these new
be effective against these new
variants and subvariants?
>> The vaccines have been
effective against all of the
variance in sub variant so far most importantly, they protect
most importantly, they protect
against serious illness and
death. And that’s really what
we want to do.
>> It paints a picture here for
us. What does the future look like with COVID what we need
like with COVID what we need
to get a vaccine and boosters
every year. Just like we do with the flu. Shots.
with the flu. Shots.
>> Well, that’s a great Don’t
know I suspect that may be in
our future, but public health
experts will tell us if if
that’s necessary.
>> Well, we certainly appreciate your insight this
appreciate your insight this
morning. A big thank you,
Doctor Christina Bryan,
Pediatric infectious disease