Guidance for parents regarding the COVID19 vaccine
Several pediatricians have reached out to me for talking points on the COVID19 vaccine and easily digestible (but grounded in science) answers to common concerns. Only 49% of parents plan on vaccinating their kids in the U.S. This means we (public health professionals, pediatricians, friends of parents) have a lot of work to do.
What do you focus on?
A recent Lancet study found that providing information about the personal benefits of the COVID19 vaccine reduce hesitancy MORE than providing information about collective benefits. Especially among strongly vaccine hesitant persons. Among people who are mildly hesitant about vaccination, there is no difference between messaging strategies.
I put together a 1-pager of top 7 reasons parents are hesitant with evidence-based discussion points. Here is a low resolution copy. If you’re a paying subscriber, reply to this email and I can send you the PDF copy so you can print or post or use as doodling paper.
Hope this is helpful!
Love, YLE
Question: can vaccines be given off label like medicine can? Ie could a doctor prescribe getting the COVID vaccine for someone who was say 11 years old and has asthma?
If Pfizer (or Moderna) releases preliminary clinical trial info for elementary age kids before school starts in August, and it takes the FDA a few weeks to approve, I would consider if there is a way to get the vaccine off label for my children.