To Our Patients and Parents,
At the beginning of this month, FDA and CDC have authorized the Pfizer COVID vaccine for children 5-11 years of age. The dosage is one third of the dose for older teens and adults, given in 2 doses 3 weeks apart. The efficacy of the vaccine is reported to be 91%. Based on experience in adults and older teens, we know that there may be rare side effects such as inflammation of heart (myocarditis) that may not be seen until millions of children have been vaccinated. All patients who have experienced myocarditis as a result of the vaccine have recovered. We cannot say the same for all patients who had COVID, as some children have experienced multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS) from COVID, requiring long stays in intensive care units, and some have died.
Getting vaccinated means lowering the risks of catching the infection, becoming seriously ill, and spreading the infection to others, especially those who are closest to your heart. For these reasons, we recommend the COVID vaccine for children. Our hope is that all children who are eligible will get vaccinated. For parents who are still hesitant and wish to have additional information, the CDC webpage below provides more details about the vaccine:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/children-teens.html
To minimize vaccine wastage, our plan is to vaccinate patients only by appointment. Many parents have already expressed interest in getting the vaccine for their children in response to our last newsletter. We have started contacting them and putting them on a schedule, now that our first shipment of vaccine has arrived. Once your child is on the schedule, please show up and on time. If your child is sick for that day or has another reason that prevents him/her to come, please call ahead to cancel, so that another child can be contacted to get the vaccine. Our plan is to start vaccinating starting the third week of November. Please call our office at 781-322-5101 to add your child to our contact list if you wish to have him/her vaccinated.
Best Wishes,
Pediatric Associates of Malden