Dr. Says Additional Information Needed Concerning Pfizer COVID Shots For Children
Michael Cantrell
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Dr. Ashish Jha sat down with Newsmax on Monday where he stated that if the data concerning the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine pans out for kids, then the number of infections should begin to drop among younger patients and “absolutely kids are going to be unmasked” in schools all over the nation, not to mention parents should start to feel much safer about getting the jab for their children.
“I have a nine-year-old, and I’m going to vaccinate him as soon as it’s authorized by the FDA,” Jha went on to say during his interview on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “I want to see more of the data right now.”
via Newsmax:
Pfizer announced early Monday that its vaccine works for children ages 5-11 and that it’s seeking authorization soon. The vaccine is already available for anyone 12 and older, but for younger children, the company tested a much lower dose and said it finds the younger children developed antibody levels that are just as strong as those in teens and young adults.
“What we know is that kids, while they’re less likely to get sick than adults, but they still get sick,” said the doctor. “[There are] about 2,000 kids getting hospitalized every week in this country from COVID.”
Meanwhile, he said that he doesn’t think all children will get vaccinated and that it will take a while for the plans to roll out.
“I really expect we’re seeing infection numbers drop in many places,” Jha went on to say during the conversation. “I think we will get to a point where absolutely kids are gonna be unmasked. We do not want kids masked up forever in schools, and I think the question is when. I think it’ll happen sooner rather than later if a large number of kids end up getting vaccinated.”
He added that there are already two other countries where children are being vaccinated, and he thinks as the data grows on the Pfizer findings, more countries will join in.
Meanwhile, the FDA has rejected the Biden administration’s call for booster shots for most Americans, and Jha said he thinks the agency “largely got it right.”
“What they said was look, the high priority should be high-risk people, people over 65,” said the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “Now the data from Israel’s people over 60 so we can debate 60 versus 65, and other high-risk people, people with diabetes and high blood pressure and heart disease. They also said health care workers and other frontline workers who are exposed by higher levels would benefit.”
However, despite that, Jha said he wants to wait for more information to come in to decide if others, like healthy young adults, really need a third shot of the vaccine.
“I suspect we’ll have it in the next couple of months, and we can make a decision down the road based on what the data shows,” he stated.
“We can all agree that what everybody needs to be doing is getting that first shot,” the doctor went on to say. “You do not want to end up in the hospital. You don’t want to don’t end up in the ventilator, and that’s what we’re seeing too often for people who are unvaccinated.”
Um, no. That’s not something we can all agree on, which is kind of the reason so many folks haven’t been vaccinated.
We have no idea what kind of impact this vaccine will have in five years or even a decade. That worries folks. And rightly so.
However, whether or not a person is vaccinated should be up to the individuals and their doctor. Such a choice should not be politicized.
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