Last week Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert published a letter in the NEJM saying that he thinks our strategy of chasing variants with variant-targetted vaccines is not the right path to go forward at least for now. What does this mean?
Hi! My sons (2 and 3 years old) had the bivalent as the third Pzifer shot (it was approved the week they had their third shot appointment). I was excited it coincided and thought they were better protected against the new variants, specially living in a high risk area were the positivity rate is super high. Should I worry? my husband is immunocompromised and has had COVID twice (very bad symptoms) and my sons once (both from brought if from daycare, dad got it, but I didn’t, even tough the kids coughed in my face and slept with me during those days). How come COVID has been at my house in 3 different times and I haven’t been infected? So weird!
Hello - my 2.5 yo son was vaccinated with Moderna, 2nd shot was end of September. We are expecting another baby any day now and his doctor's office just sent a note that boosters are now available. In your opinion, is this necessary given he completed his primary series 4 months ago? Would it be a significant different in protecting our newborn? He is up to date on all other vaccines, including the flu shot. He is in daycare and we are planning to keep him home a few weeks around the time of our new baby's arrival to prevent back and forth germs until we get a sense for how we are all feeling.
In addition, we have 5 nieces/nephews (5-15 yo) that I know will be excited to meet our new baby. Some have Covid vaccination (all have had Covid), none have had flu vaccine. Any recommendations you are giving your patients in these situations?
Ok so for you, I would probably do the bivalent booster because even if your 2.5 year old only has a small burst of better immunity for 6 months it matters to your baby. In regards to family-- brief visits or visits outdoors I don’t think you need to worry. Prolonged visits having school age kids wash hands first and sniffly kids stay away is what I recommended. I strongly prefer that everyone in routine / frequent contact with your baby get the flu shot. You can also look at local flu rates and just say if RSV/flu is surging casual visitors have to mask. It’s not forever but just the first 2 months we most want to avoid baby getting sick. I worry more about RSV > Flu > other respiratory viruses than COVID in newborns especially when pregnant moms were vaccinated.
I'm not trying to be controversial, honestly asking...how do you know these vaccines are safe? There is no long term data to study. Also with the data that keeps coming out about myocarditis in male teens and young men how can you make a blanket statement saying everyone should get a primary shot as well as boosters? Without long term safety data I feel as if saying you "definitely know they are safe and don't hurt" is not based on enough information.
Hi! So my judgement they are safe is based off the data. Younger kids have had undetectable rates of myocarditis and in teens it’s been at least 10x less likely to get myocarditis from the vaccine than from COVID itself. Honestly I understand why parents who have children who already had COVID are hesitant because the benefit for those children directly is less apparent than those with no prior infection. I do have families who choose not to and I respect all parents in their choices. The current controversy is not about the primary series in kids though which is why I was emphasizing the current bivalent boosters as the relative unknown.
Hi! My sons (2 and 3 years old) had the bivalent as the third Pzifer shot (it was approved the week they had their third shot appointment). I was excited it coincided and thought they were better protected against the new variants, specially living in a high risk area were the positivity rate is super high. Should I worry? my husband is immunocompromised and has had COVID twice (very bad symptoms) and my sons once (both from brought if from daycare, dad got it, but I didn’t, even tough the kids coughed in my face and slept with me during those days). How come COVID has been at my house in 3 different times and I haven’t been infected? So weird!
Hello - my 2.5 yo son was vaccinated with Moderna, 2nd shot was end of September. We are expecting another baby any day now and his doctor's office just sent a note that boosters are now available. In your opinion, is this necessary given he completed his primary series 4 months ago? Would it be a significant different in protecting our newborn? He is up to date on all other vaccines, including the flu shot. He is in daycare and we are planning to keep him home a few weeks around the time of our new baby's arrival to prevent back and forth germs until we get a sense for how we are all feeling.
In addition, we have 5 nieces/nephews (5-15 yo) that I know will be excited to meet our new baby. Some have Covid vaccination (all have had Covid), none have had flu vaccine. Any recommendations you are giving your patients in these situations?
https://open.substack.com/pub/adviceigivemyfriends/p/keeping-newborns-well?r=2i5i&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Ok so for you, I would probably do the bivalent booster because even if your 2.5 year old only has a small burst of better immunity for 6 months it matters to your baby. In regards to family-- brief visits or visits outdoors I don’t think you need to worry. Prolonged visits having school age kids wash hands first and sniffly kids stay away is what I recommended. I strongly prefer that everyone in routine / frequent contact with your baby get the flu shot. You can also look at local flu rates and just say if RSV/flu is surging casual visitors have to mask. It’s not forever but just the first 2 months we most want to avoid baby getting sick. I worry more about RSV > Flu > other respiratory viruses than COVID in newborns especially when pregnant moms were vaccinated.
I'm not trying to be controversial, honestly asking...how do you know these vaccines are safe? There is no long term data to study. Also with the data that keeps coming out about myocarditis in male teens and young men how can you make a blanket statement saying everyone should get a primary shot as well as boosters? Without long term safety data I feel as if saying you "definitely know they are safe and don't hurt" is not based on enough information.
Hi! So my judgement they are safe is based off the data. Younger kids have had undetectable rates of myocarditis and in teens it’s been at least 10x less likely to get myocarditis from the vaccine than from COVID itself. Honestly I understand why parents who have children who already had COVID are hesitant because the benefit for those children directly is less apparent than those with no prior infection. I do have families who choose not to and I respect all parents in their choices. The current controversy is not about the primary series in kids though which is why I was emphasizing the current bivalent boosters as the relative unknown.