Emergency authorization of Pfizer BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 12 could be what gets schools through the pandemic according Dr. David Hilden at Hennepin Healthcare.
Dr. Hilden, Vice President of Medical Affairs at HCMC, told WCCO Radio's Steve Simpson during the Morning News on Thursday that the biggest hurdle after the FDA's approval will be getting enough parents to let their children get the vaccine.
"Even if we get a lot of kids, most kids vaccinated, vaccination helps everybody," Hilden said. "It helps those who get vaccinated, it helps people who choose not to get vaccinated. It will be extraordinarily helpful for our schools."
Dr. Hilden added that he's confident a combination of vaccines and traditional COVID-19 measures will be critical, particularly into the winter months.
"Testing, masks, and social distancing to the degree they can," he added. "All those things should be helpful to get schools through this."
When it comes to the vaccine's effectiveness, adding children aged 5 to 12 to the approval list will likely further increase the evidence that it is working.
"We have an incredible amount of data we need to process with over a billion doses given. We can do studies on millions of people. It's remarkable how effective and safe these vaccines are."
On Wednesday, University of Minnesota Infectious Disease Director Dr. Michael Osterholm told WCCO's Chad Hartman, said he's particularly concerned about what he calls a dramatic increase in transmission in schools.
“While clearly and fortunately, kids don’t have serious illness and death nearly as often as their older parents, etc. do, they still get really sick,” according to Dr. Osterholm.
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To make matters worse, Osterholm says pediatric ICU units in hospitals across the Upper Midwest are practically at capacity.
“I tell you this, it’s virtually impossible to find a pediatric intensive care bed in the Upper Midwest that’s not taken already,” Osterholm warns. “So you better hope your child doesn’t get seriously ill in the next couple of days. That’s a real challenge.”