Young Kids Are Now Vaccine-Eligible. Why Doctors Say Parents Shouldn't Wait
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 November 2021
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
Jenny Brundin of Colorado Public Radio spoke to parents and kids in Denver about getting a shot. While some are eager, others want to 'wait and see.'
NPR's Allison Aubrey and Selena Simmons-Duffin wrote about why pediatricians say it's better not to wait. Read their piece: Some parents want to wait to vaccinate their kids. Here's why doctors say do it now.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | No, the voice shook his head. It did not hurt. Well, that boy was one of the first kids |
| 0:11.4 | under 12 in the country to get a COVID-19 vaccine. It happened at Hartford Healthcare in Connecticut |
| 0:22.6 | hours after the CDC made things official Tuesday night, authorizing a Pfizer vaccine for |
| 0:28.4 | kids ages 5 to 11. You know, this was such a celebratory moment. CDC director Rochelle |
| 0:35.0 | Walensky made the final call after recommendations by two different advisory panels at the FDA and |
| 0:41.2 | CDC. She told NPR the next day, those panels reviewed data that say the kids vaccine, which |
| 0:47.6 | is one third the dosage at the adult version, is 91 percent effective. It is safe. In fact, |
| 0:54.0 | in clinical trials, including several thousand children, there was not a single case of a severe |
| 0:59.6 | side effect from this vaccine. Public health officials believe it is not just kids who will benefit, |
| 1:05.1 | getting them vaccinated could help keep the pandemic on a downward trajectory as the US gets closer |
| 1:10.6 | to winter and with more than a thousand Americans still dying from COVID-19 every day. And |
| 1:16.8 | that's too high. So we are really asking people to do the hard work of getting themselves vaccinated, |
| 1:23.3 | getting our children vaccinated and continuing to practice those prevention strategies that we know work. |
| 1:29.4 | Consider this. 28 million kids are now vaccine eligible and pediatricians tell NPR parents and |
| 1:38.2 | caretakers should not wait to get kids a shot. Coming up, we'll hear from children and their |
| 1:43.8 | parents about that decision. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It is Thursday, November 4th. |
| 1:50.9 | This message comes from NPR sponsor VMWare. Navigate change faster with technologies that unleash the |
| 1:59.7 | power of all clouds. Learn more about VMware cross-cloud services at VMware.com slash welcome. |
| 2:07.2 | VMware welcome change. This message comes from NPR sponsor SmartWall, maker of versatile |
| 2:14.3 | marino wool base layers for all day comfort. They're the first layer you'll want to put on and |
| 2:19.0 | the last layer you'll want to take off. Shop SmartWall, base layer, socks and accessories at SmartWall.com. |
| 2:26.2 | It's consider this for NPR. Just like for adults, vaccines for kids will make it possible to get |
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