Thread by @DrScottHadland

Vaccines for kids under 5 — lots of news coverage this AM. Might be available here in the US within a month.

Here’s a 🧵 diving a little deeper from my perspective as a pediatrician. 1/

We pediatricians are hearing from many, many families that they’re desperate for a vaccine for kids under 5.

This resonates for me & my family. We have two kids in this age group. /2

Data *do* suggest vaccines for kids under 5 could be very helpful.

At a minimum, vaccines are safe in this age group — there were very few adverse events in clinical trials.

Vaccine doses are also one-tenth that given to adults. /3

The chief question — and one @US_FDA, @CDCgov, @AmerAcadPeds & pediatricians like me will be scrutinizing — is whether vaccines are efficacious in kids under 5.

Meaning: Do kids produce antibodies? And ideally, vax also ⬇️ infection, severe illness, hospitalization & death. /4

Data from the youngest kids in this age range (6 months to just under 2 years) suggest that yes, vaccines are efficacious.

Kids this age, after two vaccines at one-tenth the dose, mount an immune response similar to that of ppl 16-25 years old.

These are very promising data. /5

The older kids in this range (kids 2-5 years) didn’t have nearly as promising immune response in clinical trials.

Pfizer is studying whether a 3rd dose in these kids causes them to mount a good immune response.

These data may be out late March, we’re hearing. /6

To summarize:

Vaccines are safe in kids under 5.

They lead to good antibody levels in kids 6 months to just under 2 years.

A 3rd dose in kids 2-5 yrs is being studied and may help them produce a better immune response. /7

So how to synthesize this info?

In the face of a public health emergency in which we need to protect kids—as well as the adults in their lives (elderly, immunocompromised, etc), we’ve had to act quickly, with full data on effectiveness of vaccines lagging a bit behind safety. /8

In almost every instance to date, when those real-world effectiveness data have come after vaccines were made available, we were thankful we started vaccinating.

Studies keep showing that vacccines reduce infections, hospitalizations, deaths. /9

This is true, BTW, even during this Omicron wave. And as we potentially enter a new wave caused by BA.2, this is very likely to still be the case — that we’ll be glad people are choosing to get vaccinated. /10

So, if you’re a parent who wants vaccines for your kids under 5, today’s headlines are good news. If @US_FDA & @CDCgov recommend them, I will too.

And as always, pediatricians like me will be around to help you make the best decision for you and your families. ❤️ 11/11