Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines are now being offered in Idaho. Here’s what to know
Hailey Nash had been counting down the days until her 6-year-old son could get his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Her son, Nolan, is immunocompromised and has been in and out of the hospital multiple times over the past two years. He’s undergone several procedures, and was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
Over the past year and a half, Nash and her family have had to be very careful.
“We’ve been very conscientious of his health,” she told the Idaho Statesman, while sitting in the waiting room at a clinic, excitedly awaiting her turn so Nolan could get his first COVID-19 shot.
“It’s been scary. It’s been hard to have so many things out of our control.”
Nolan on Thursday became one of the first kids in the 5-11 age group in Idaho to receive his COVID-19 vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Tuesday recommended Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 and, shortly after, the CDC’s director signed off on it.
The authorization was a welcome relief for many parents who have been waiting for months to get their young kids vaccinated. Families in the Boise area were eager to make vaccine appointments, filling up slots as soon as they became available or walking into clinics offering the shots.
Idaho has reported 260 COVID-19 hospitalizations, but no deaths, among those under 18 since the pandemic began. Health care providers in the state have been encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids and sharing as much information as they can about the vaccines.
“They’re safe and effective, highly effective … against acquiring disease, but very, very effective against hospitalizations and deaths,” said Dr. Cathy Oliphant, co-chair of pharmacy practice and administrative sciences at Idaho State University’s College of Pharmacy.
“… No one wants that to happen to their kid.”
How can you get your child vaccinated?
The vaccine for kids 5-11 requires a lower dose than the shots for people 12 and older but still requires two shots three weeks apart. About 114,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in the state Tuesday and tens of thousands more are on the way.
Families can schedule appointments to get the free vaccine in several ways. Central District Health (cdhd.idaho.gov) put out a list of locations offering appointments with information on how parents can schedule the shots.
Primary Health is offering the shots at some of its clinics, and parents can make appointments online. Three Saint Alphonsus pediatric clinics will start offering appointments for children on Monday. St. Luke’s will also be offering the vaccine for kids 5-11 at some of its clinics, but they won’t be offering walk-in appointments for kids in this age range.
Parents can also schedule appointments at pharmacies in the Treasure Valley, including Walgreens and Rite Aid.
School districts may also play a role in vaccine distribution. The Boise School District is helping parents who want to vaccinate their kids find vaccine providers, said Dan Hollar, public affairs administrator with the district.
The district is also looking into potentially offering optional vaccination clinics at its schools “as a way of increasing accessibility for eligible students,” he said.
“Because the EUA (emergency use authorization) was just approved, these conversations are preliminary at this point,” Hollar said in an email Thursday.
‘Another step in the right direction’
Medical professionals have said the vaccines for kids 5-11 are safe and effective, and the risks of COVID-19 far outweigh those of the vaccine. They are urging parents to get their kids vaccinated both for their own safety and to protect the community.
Doctors emphasized even though kids typically experience more mild symptoms from the virus, that’s not always the case. Kids have gotten very sick, been hospitalized and even died from the virus.
Some kids also develop multisystem inflammatory syndrome after getting the virus. MIS-C causes organs in the body to become inflamed. Kathryn Turner, deputy state epidemiologist, said during a briefing earlier this week 37 Idaho children have developed the infection after getting COVID-19.
The delta variant caused a major surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent months.
“Delta doesn’t discriminate,” Oliphant said. “It affects everybody … Across the board, (kids) probably do get less severe disease, but we can’t pick and choose, we don’t know what COVID is going to do to anybody who gets infected.”
Even if kids don’t get severe symptoms at first, they can experience long COVID, having symptoms for weeks or months after testing positive for the virus, she said.
Kids can also spread the virus to their loved ones. More people getting vaccinated can reduce transmission of the virus, and help protect the more vulnerable members of the community.
In Idaho, COVID-19 vaccination rates have been lower with each eligible age group. Only 37% of 12- to 15-year-olds have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
With vaccines now available, doctors said younger kids will be able to get back to doing some of the things they have missed over the past 18 months.
That includes gathering more safely with family over the upcoming holidays, especially those who are immunocompromised, said Dr. David Peterman, CEO of Primary Health Medical Group.
“The ability to get these children vaccinated … it’s huge. It means grandparents are not at risk with their grandchildren. It means aunts and uncles that may have an immune problem can be with their nieces and nephews,” he said. “What we’ve all been through in the last 18-24 months is awful and a terrible tragedy and this is another step in the right direction.”
Common questions about COVID-19 vaccine for kids
Not all parents are ready to vaccinate their kids. And hesitancy is understandable, experts said.
Peterman said he’s seen three types of families: those parents who absolutely want to vaccinate their children, those who are asking questions of their health care providers to ensure it is safe and then those who aren’t interested in vaccinating their children at all.
From his perspective, asking questions is a good thing, he said. And he’s happy to answer any questions parents have to ensure they feel comfortable getting their kids vaccinated.
“I believe the best source of vaccinations for children is with their medical home,” he said. “Because that’s who they trust.”
Pediatricians and family doctors for years have been talking to parents about childhood vaccinations, he said. It’s something they’re used to doing, and they know how to do.
Peterman said parents frequently ask if he thinks the vaccine is safe, express concerns over it being a new vaccine and question whether he thinks enough children have had it that it’s an adequate trial.
He tells parents that mRNA vaccines have been studied for decades, so even though this particular vaccine is new, the concept and making of mRNA vaccines is not.
Data from trials for children 5-11 show the vaccines were safe and more than 90% effective, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Side effects seen in the trial were “mild” and “similar to those seen in adults,” according to the CDC.
Millions of vaccine doses have also been given to children and teens ages 12-18 all over the world, Peterman said.
Other concerns parents have expressed about the vaccine have been over the possibility of developing myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle.
Peterman pointed to a study from the CDC that shows the risk of children under 16 having myocarditis is 37 times higher among those who are infected with COVID-19 than those who haven’t gotten the virus. The CDC said the study underscores “the importance of implementing evidence-based COVID-19 prevention strategies, including vaccination, to reduce the public health impact of COVID-19 and its associated complications.”
The benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks, experts said.
“You’re saying to parents, I want you to have this vaccine, because the chances of your child having a serious side effect are way, way, way less than if they get COVID and have a serious side effect,” Peterman said.
‘Hoping for this day’
Peterman said the enthusiasm from families so far has been “remarkable.”
Primary Health started to take appointments for vaccines on Wednesday. By the end of the day, combining the number of vaccinations given and the number of appointments booked, they had more than 1,000.
“This is just wonderful news,” Peterman said. “I’m absolutely thrilled.”
At a Primary Health clinic on Thursday, parents and their children filled the waiting area, both excited and nervous as they waited their turn to get the shots.
Logan Gates, 8, wore his Marvel mask and his brother Toby, 5, had a Spiderman one.
When both boys got their vaccines, they rolled up their sleeves. Anne Thomas, who was giving their shots, told them to make a “wet spaghetti noodle arm.” Then, in a split second, they were done. Their mom, Mari Gates, let out a yelp in excitement after each shot and gave her sons high-fives.
“For the first time, I’ve actually seen kids excited to get shots,” Thomas said.
Logan has asthma, so Gates wanted to get him vaccinated as soon as possible. She was excited for her boys to be able to more safely see the rest of their family, and to be more protected at school.
Vaccines have been used for hundreds of years, she said. Her grandfather even worked on the polio vaccine, she said.
But she said she wished more people would get vaccinated in Idaho.
“I wish that people cared more,” she said.
For Nash, the additional protection her son will get with the vaccine gives her piece of mind.
Over the past year and a half, she and her family have continued to wear masks. They have been tested multiple times out of caution, though none of them have gotten COVID-19.
Nash has also seen firsthand — as her son has been in and out of the hospital — how hard the doctors and nurses work, she said.
“They are good, good people that I owe a lot to,” she said.
In addition to protecting her son and her community, she said she wanted to do anything she could to help those in the medical field. Getting vaccinated is a big way to do that, she said.
“We’ve been counting down the days, checking the news … waiting, hoping for this day,” Nash said. “I feel like it’s a blessing, an answer for us, an extra layer of relief.”
