COVID-19 vaccine and children – here’s what you need to know
In cooperation with The fresh toast
The CDC will soon allow children to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Here’s what you should know.
Now that children between the ages of 5 and 11 will soon be able to be vaccinated against COVID-19, many parents make plans to visit their nearest pharmacy. And while this is good news, there are some differences between the ways in which the COVID-19 vaccine affects adults and children.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the fact that vaccines for young children will soon be available means that after careful consideration and study, the benefits outweigh the risks. Still, here are a few things you should know about the COVID-19 vaccine and its effect on children:
COVID-19 affects children differently
However, COVID-19 is rare in children it has increased with the advent of the Delta variant, which means that if another variant should emerge, children may be more vulnerable.
RELATED: COVID-19 survivors may experience these two newly discovered side effects
While COVID-19 is less dangerous to children than it is in adults, there have been reports of prolonged COVID-19 affecting children, including reactions of fatigue, pain and headaches. Despite the low rate of infection in schools, children are able to contract and transmit the disease, which is why families with children should be extra careful about the people they meet and their degree of exposure.
Like most vaccines, there are some risks involved
While the COVID-19 vaccine appears to be safe, there are some side effects associated with it, mainly including injection site pain, headache and fever. To minimize these side effects, COVID-19 doses in children are smaller, but they are still able to produce an adequate immune response.
RELATED: Unvaccinated? You can expect to be infected with COVID-19 as often
When it comes to risky or strange side effects, even if there are not enough numbers to support this theory, there is a risk of myocarditis, which has affected some teens who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. This condition, which involves swelling of the heart, has appeared in boys between 16 and 17 years of age. No deaths have been associated with the vaccine.
read more on The fresh toast
No comments: