One piece of misinformation floating about is that #COVID19 vaccines are unnecessary for kids because COVID doesn't affect kids.
*ahem* we disagree. This thread will give you the numbers. 👇🏻🧵
Kids CAN get #COVID, which is just not great for them. Who wants their kid to be sick when a safe #vaccine is free and available to prevent that?
In fact, some kids get really, really sick, and it's not entirely predictable which kids will end up in the hospital or the ICU. But we know that people who get vaccinated are less likely to end up in the hospital even if they do get sick: news.northeastern.edu/2021/09/24/how…
MIS-C is a complication that can follow COVID infection after a child recovers from the illness. A child will have inflammation of multiple organs that could land them in the hospital. So far, nearly 50 children in the U.S. have died from MIS-C. cdc.gov/mis/mis-c/hcp/…
Remember all those learning days kids lost the past two school years? Yeah, that's still happening. Being unvaccinated means kids are excluded from school when they are exposed to #Covid_19
Even if a child has a mild course, they are still at risk from COVID, especially if they pass it on to those at home. So far, 140,000 children have lost their primary caregiver--that's like every child in Wyoming losing a parent.
We are not powerless to protect our children! The vaccine is safe and waiting for all people 5 years old and older. #GetVaccinatedNow
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Last week, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis convened a panel of 'experts' to try and prove mRNA vaccines are unsafe.
We wanted to point out some key myths which illustrate how they continue to mislead people. 🧵
Many of their claims center around distorting the real side-effect of myocarditis. The first is this narrative that history has shown that this side effect is riskier for kids than the virus.
We *know* this is false. AAP data show most kids 12-17 were fully vaccinated by August.
At this point, national data showed only 543 confirmed cases of vaccine-associated myocarditis in kids. And since 0-11 year olds are at very low risk for this event, there would be a limit to its scale.
Contrast this with 170000+ reported pediatric hospitalizations from COVID.
The Hep B vaccine is now given at birth, but starting *this year* all adults <60 are recommended to get it.
I talked to the CDC's former viral hepatitis lead Dr. John Ward to understand why 🧵
First, what is viral hepatitis?
Viral hepatitis comprises a few different infections caused by viruses Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. While A and E mostly cause acute disease, the others including B often lead to chronic infection.
HepB in particular is a lifelong infection.
HepB is harmful because chronic infection is a leading cause of liver cancer.
In the US, between 1-2 MM people have chronic HepB. Most are unaware. And while it travels through body fluids, it's so infectious that transmission can happen through casual contact. (Dr. Ward ⬇️)
Since the EUA for COVID vaccines for kids under 5, there have been some high-profile misconceptions about the recommendation.
It's an issue because this virus isn't going away and newborns have a chance at immunity before infection. So here's why we recommend the vaccine (🧵)
First, authorization.
The concern here has been that the vax trials were too small to detect many severe outcomes. And so some people say we "don't know" whether vaccine works.
That's misleading. The stated basis for the EUA was what's known as immunobridging. (2)
Immunobridging is when you have a new use for an effective vaccine and want to get the dose right.
Both the Pfizer + Moderna trials showed good immune response in kids (>=1 GMTR) with high statistical confidence. This—not efficacy—is why the vaccine was unanimously approved. (3)
My repeated attempts to address concerns about long-term effects from vaccines have led me to believe that people must not know what infectious diseases can do.
So in this 🧵 I will cite a variety of sources to show they are what cause such effects. (3)
Recently, a paper in Scientific Reports began circling that suggests mRNA vaccines may have yet undetected heart risks. The authors used EMS data in Israel looking at calls for cardiovascular events.
They also draw some conclusions that go beyond their data. A 🧵 (1)
First, it should be noted that some people are saying this was published in Nature.
It wasn't. Scientific reports is a mega journal, publishing the largest # of articles in the world and specifically selects papers for their methods rather than their immediate importance. (2)
That's not a knock against the authors, because for the most part we're not looking at their methods.
So what did they do?
They looked at rates of emergency medical calls for two conditions--cardiac arrest (CA) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS)--across Israel during COVID. (3)
One common objection to vaccination goes like: "I'm healthy. I'll overcome disease naturally."
People believe that because we evolved to deal with viruses, we don't need to immunize.
Turns out this isn't true. Today you face viruses a caveman would never dream of. 🧵 (1)
This thread is about a term we hear often, natural immunity 🍃
There's a certain ring to it as if getting sick is what your ancestors would have wanted.
And while it is true that we have an *amazing* immune system, the world is much, much different than it used to be. (2)
Let's start with some facts. You obviously did evolve to handle a lot of exposures throughout your life.
We know this because even your average baby--with an immature immune system--fights off millions of potential microbial threats every single day | kqed.org/stateofhealth/… (3)