While parents continue to fret about the safety of their kids while they’re back in school for in-person learning, at least those aged 12 and up are eligible for the vaccine. As some with younger children get frustrated by how long it’s taking for a vaccine to become available for kids 12 and under, officials are working as quickly as possible to get it done.
"We need to be very careful with the trials, and we have to remember that most vaccines take between three and five years to get approval," said Dr. Yyvonne Maldonado, a professor of health and infectious diseases, pediatrics, and epidemiology and population health at Stanford University, on Friday’s Ask an Expert.
It’s only been a year and a half since the pandemic started, so development is going at a pretty fast clip right now, she said. "We’re all waiting anxiously to get these done, but happy with the process so far," she told KCBS Radio’s Holly Quan and Dan Mitchinson.
The time it takes to develop a vaccine really has nothing to do with the ages of the intended recipients, she said, more about what kind of vaccine it is and how easily the population can be studied.
What helped the vaccine get up and running last year was the huge investment made into research, billions of dollars, said Maldonado.
The vaccine isn’t going to help get rid of the virus completely, but will help curb it, at least for a while. "Over time we’ll have to see if this virus mutates into something more benign," she said, or if it changes into something worse.
And as parents take their kids to get the COVID-19 vaccination, they need to make sure that they’re also up to date on their normal vaccinations as well, such as the flu, said Maldonado. "We really don’t have any way of knowing what this flu season will look like."
Last year, there really wasn’t much of a flu season because of various lockdowns, but it’s now possible that the flu will be more prevalent this year with schools reopened. People coming in for one shot shouldn’t have a problem getting as many as possible in one visit, she said.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are pretty similar between adults and children, even with those with cases of "long" COVID-19, including brain fog, diabetes, and heart inflammation.
Depending on the timeline for FDA approval, there might be a vaccine available for children aged 5-12 by the end of this year, said Maldonado.
Related
