On May 10th the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially extended its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer vaccine to ages 12-15.
❓WHEN can my 12-15 year-old get their shot?
While we’ve heard anecdotes of immediate availability, most providers will wait to book appointments for those ages until after the CDC immunization advisory board (ACIP) meeting takes place on Wednesday May 12th. Your best bet is to check for availability starting Thursday.
❓WHY should my adolescent get the shot?
✔️ Without vaccination, it’s likely that most people will eventually get infected with SARS-CoV-2 within a few years. Given the choice of your child becoming immune to SARS-CoV-2 via natural infection or vaccination, vaccination is much safer.
✔️ Kids have low– but not no– risk from COVID-19. There have been close to 300 official COVID-19 deaths in children 0-17 reported in the US, and well over 200,000 hospitalizations.
✔️ In rare cases, MIS-C, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome has been seen in children after COVID-19. This is when kids get really sick and different body parts (like the lungs, heart, kidneys, brain, or gut) become inflamed and damaged.
✔️ Close to 8% of children ages 2-16 still reported COVID-19 symptoms up to 12 weeks after testing positive (in a nationally representative study in the UK with random testing).
✔️ New variants *may* cause more serious disease in the young (jury is still out), but vaccines are very effective against these variants.
✔️ Despite the rumors circulating, there is NO evidence or biological mechanism by which the vaccines affect future fertility.
✔️ Kids, especially adolescents and teens, have more social contact and risk of spreading the virus. Vaccinating young people protects them AND protects others.
✔️ Those Nerdy Girls have over 30 children among us. We are all eager to get our kids protected by these vaccines and hope you are too.
Love,
Those Nerdy Girls
