For the past two days, ACIP—the CDC advisory board—met to discuss COVID-19 vaccines among children. Actually, this was one of their three regularly scheduled annual meetings, so they discussed many vaccines. Here are the cliff notes re: the COVID-19 ones as there seems to be a ridiculous amount of misinformation circulating.
Hi YLE - Thank you for the great info as always! Can you shed some light on why other countries have come to different recommendations, as it relates to kids, for the COVID vaccine? Several countries either aren't recommending the vaccine and / or boosters for this age group. There is of course misinformation out there (mainly driven by media), but there are several ethical countries who have landed on a different recommendation for their youth.
As the prior Director of the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics at FDA, and the Office which administered the safety reviews of newly approved products by the Pediatric Advisory Committee of FDA, I would suggest that we NOT be saying we know the LONG-TERM safety profile for myocarditis in adolescent males, nor be reassuring re long term outcomes-we simply do not know nor have the data. At this point we have absolutely no idea what myocarditis, caused by what is probably an autoimmune process, will mean when these young men are in their 30's or 40's or 50's. What we should be saying is, at this point, the risk of the virus causing severe illness in healthy (non-immunocompromised) males of this age group is ------ (low) vs the risk of myocarditis which will result in hospitalization is_____ (lower) ,with a known short term outcome that is encourageing. Though we see no evidence of KNOWN permanent damage in the majority of cases, there is no long term outcome information at this time. ALL confidence will be lost in government agencies if we are not careful in how we define the risk-benefit in this specific population for this immunization. Obviously young males with immunecompromised systems or other conditions that make them more likely to have a severe outcome from a Coronovirus infection should NOT be lumped into this approach as they have a higher risk of a poor outcome if infected. . Population statistics can be misleading when dealing with subpopulations. Thank you for doing such a great job at addressing this evolving epidemic. Dianne Murphy, MD, AAP (retired)
I feel like there's a bit of nuance with respect to how CDC and ACIP recommendations impact state and local laws. Clearly Tucker Carlson is being less than honest when he says that these are "requirements". However, it's also the case that CDC guidelines are automatically "incorporated by reference" into various "rule sets". Those sets of rules would need to be explicitly re-written if those rule makers disagree with current CDC guidelines. We could gain a bit more flexibility if ACIP had some sort of "versioning" system when it issues recommendations, or published handbooks every few years, similar to NIST, NFPA, the DSM, etc.
Many states have their vaccine mandates for children linked to the CDC. If the CDC says it is included in the 36 vaccines for children, then those states linked to their list will comply. Children will have to have these vaccinations to attend school. Pediatricians will have to give them.
I have been hearing rumbles of very bad outbreaks of RSV in some places. Any tips for those of us hoping to dodge this bullet? Is it real or just hot air?
Looking at my local Fox newscast this morning just as I finished up with reading Kaitlyn's summary. To my great relief they reported the CDC's actions fairly, emphasizing mandates (if any) would be matters for state and local authorities. Another local station, a Sinclair affiliate, has also had a sterling record of unbiased coverage of the health scene. Take away is that the Tucker Carlson types don't dominate health coverage in the conservative broadcast media and that's very heartening. Perhaps we don't have to be divided in everything.
I appreciate the clarification about the CDC Vaccine schedule because I am starting to see some politicians using it as a vote-grab bullet point. Followup question for context - is the flu vaccine also on that schedule? To my knowledge, that has not been a mandate in MN for public education or daycare, so I presume that the COVID vaccine would follow that trend.
Unlike other vaccines like polio, neither of these are a sure-enough bet against getting sick for every family to want to assume their risk nor does getting them ensure a major squelch in transmission, so do you think that is the reasoning behind some being mandated vs others not?
Hello, my 5 yo has his original series and then had his booster August 2022, when should he get his new booster? As a PA I find this so unclear and I feel like we need formal guidelines.
Thank you. Our one candidate for governor, Senator Mastriano in Pennsylvania, is making a point of scaring people away from vaccinations for adults and adolescents. I appreciate data to help argue against his words.
I'm not sure where to ask this, or where to look for information on it--are there rapid tests that use a saliva sample that are accurate? A rapid test for my son who can't tolerate nasal swabs would be super useful, and while a Google search turns up antigen tests with saliva samples are available in other countries, I don't see any that seem to be US based and I don't know how to tell if they're reliable.
I’ve seen many people asserting that adding the Covid vaccine to the recommended list is unprecedented because they are still EUA. How should we respond to this?
Loving all this news! Do you have any thoughts on mixing vaccine brands in the 5+ group? Both my kids got Pfizer x3 (last in May), and my youngest turns 6 next week so I'd like to do Moderna this round. I'm guessing there isn't specific data on kids
Are there any trials being done currently for an extra covid vaccine during pregnancy? Since we now seem to be on a one covid booster per year schedule, it's possible that depending on the date of their last dose, some pregnant individuals would not be eligible to get vaccinated during pregnancy. Given the increased risk for negative health outcomes for parent and fetus/child during/after pregnancy and the benefits of vaccination during pregnancy, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything about eligibility for additional boosters in this group.
Have the mRNA vaccines gotten full FDA approval for under 12? I thought they still had emergency approval. Interesting that they would add it to the childhood vaccine schedule without full approval. I hope that comes soon.
Hi YLE - Thank you for the great info as always! Can you shed some light on why other countries have come to different recommendations, as it relates to kids, for the COVID vaccine? Several countries either aren't recommending the vaccine and / or boosters for this age group. There is of course misinformation out there (mainly driven by media), but there are several ethical countries who have landed on a different recommendation for their youth.
As the prior Director of the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics at FDA, and the Office which administered the safety reviews of newly approved products by the Pediatric Advisory Committee of FDA, I would suggest that we NOT be saying we know the LONG-TERM safety profile for myocarditis in adolescent males, nor be reassuring re long term outcomes-we simply do not know nor have the data. At this point we have absolutely no idea what myocarditis, caused by what is probably an autoimmune process, will mean when these young men are in their 30's or 40's or 50's. What we should be saying is, at this point, the risk of the virus causing severe illness in healthy (non-immunocompromised) males of this age group is ------ (low) vs the risk of myocarditis which will result in hospitalization is_____ (lower) ,with a known short term outcome that is encourageing. Though we see no evidence of KNOWN permanent damage in the majority of cases, there is no long term outcome information at this time. ALL confidence will be lost in government agencies if we are not careful in how we define the risk-benefit in this specific population for this immunization. Obviously young males with immunecompromised systems or other conditions that make them more likely to have a severe outcome from a Coronovirus infection should NOT be lumped into this approach as they have a higher risk of a poor outcome if infected. . Population statistics can be misleading when dealing with subpopulations. Thank you for doing such a great job at addressing this evolving epidemic. Dianne Murphy, MD, AAP (retired)
I feel like there's a bit of nuance with respect to how CDC and ACIP recommendations impact state and local laws. Clearly Tucker Carlson is being less than honest when he says that these are "requirements". However, it's also the case that CDC guidelines are automatically "incorporated by reference" into various "rule sets". Those sets of rules would need to be explicitly re-written if those rule makers disagree with current CDC guidelines. We could gain a bit more flexibility if ACIP had some sort of "versioning" system when it issues recommendations, or published handbooks every few years, similar to NIST, NFPA, the DSM, etc.
Many states have their vaccine mandates for children linked to the CDC. If the CDC says it is included in the 36 vaccines for children, then those states linked to their list will comply. Children will have to have these vaccinations to attend school. Pediatricians will have to give them.
I have been hearing rumbles of very bad outbreaks of RSV in some places. Any tips for those of us hoping to dodge this bullet? Is it real or just hot air?
Looking at my local Fox newscast this morning just as I finished up with reading Kaitlyn's summary. To my great relief they reported the CDC's actions fairly, emphasizing mandates (if any) would be matters for state and local authorities. Another local station, a Sinclair affiliate, has also had a sterling record of unbiased coverage of the health scene. Take away is that the Tucker Carlson types don't dominate health coverage in the conservative broadcast media and that's very heartening. Perhaps we don't have to be divided in everything.
I appreciate the clarification about the CDC Vaccine schedule because I am starting to see some politicians using it as a vote-grab bullet point. Followup question for context - is the flu vaccine also on that schedule? To my knowledge, that has not been a mandate in MN for public education or daycare, so I presume that the COVID vaccine would follow that trend.
Unlike other vaccines like polio, neither of these are a sure-enough bet against getting sick for every family to want to assume their risk nor does getting them ensure a major squelch in transmission, so do you think that is the reasoning behind some being mandated vs others not?
Hello, my 5 yo has his original series and then had his booster August 2022, when should he get his new booster? As a PA I find this so unclear and I feel like we need formal guidelines.
Thank you. Our one candidate for governor, Senator Mastriano in Pennsylvania, is making a point of scaring people away from vaccinations for adults and adolescents. I appreciate data to help argue against his words.
I'm not sure where to ask this, or where to look for information on it--are there rapid tests that use a saliva sample that are accurate? A rapid test for my son who can't tolerate nasal swabs would be super useful, and while a Google search turns up antigen tests with saliva samples are available in other countries, I don't see any that seem to be US based and I don't know how to tell if they're reliable.
I’d be interested to know the basis upon which the early (2021) claims of safety in pregnancy were made given the lack of information at that time.
I’ve seen many people asserting that adding the Covid vaccine to the recommended list is unprecedented because they are still EUA. How should we respond to this?
Loving all this news! Do you have any thoughts on mixing vaccine brands in the 5+ group? Both my kids got Pfizer x3 (last in May), and my youngest turns 6 next week so I'd like to do Moderna this round. I'm guessing there isn't specific data on kids
Are there any trials being done currently for an extra covid vaccine during pregnancy? Since we now seem to be on a one covid booster per year schedule, it's possible that depending on the date of their last dose, some pregnant individuals would not be eligible to get vaccinated during pregnancy. Given the increased risk for negative health outcomes for parent and fetus/child during/after pregnancy and the benefits of vaccination during pregnancy, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything about eligibility for additional boosters in this group.
MA just started requiring meningitis vaccine ACWY this year. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/school-immunizations.
Richard Moriarty, DM
Have the mRNA vaccines gotten full FDA approval for under 12? I thought they still had emergency approval. Interesting that they would add it to the childhood vaccine schedule without full approval. I hope that comes soon.