COVID vaccine for children avoids ‘devastating’ illness, says Mercer Island MD

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11. Next, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to approve the same and make recommendations this week, which means doses could be administered soon.

A pediatric cardiac surgeon from Mercer Island breaks down the emergency approval process and explains why the FDA reached the conclusion to allow children to get the shot.

“[The FDA] actually compared the immune response of children in the 5 to 11 year-old age group to those in the 16 through 25 year-old age group,” Dr. Gordon Cohen explained. “They found that the immune response was similar.”

That finding was significant as the COVID vaccine dose for children aged 5-11 is one third of that which is given to adults.

“It is a smaller dose but, nonetheless, they’re smaller people,” Cohen continued. “They had an equivalent immune response. In terms of the response, it was effective.”

Cohen explained why the vaccine was determined not only to be effective, but safe as well. The emergency approval was contingent on a study that observed potential adverse side effects to the vaccine.

“It was studied in 3,100 kids,” Cohen said. “About 4,700 [total] kids [participated] in the study: 3,100 or so got the vaccine, and the rest got placebo. In the 3,100 children that got the vaccine in the 5 to 11 group, no serious side effects have been detected, and it’s an ongoing study. They’ll continue to look for it based on that and seeing what’s happening with COVID.”

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Cohen sees the authorization as significant within the context of “quite a large number of COVID cases in this 5 to 11 age group.”

“There have been approximately 8,300 cases of COVID-19 [in the 5 to 11 age demographic]. As of October 17, when they looked back, there have been 691 deaths from COVID-19 in people under the age of 18, and 146 in those who are 5 through 11 years of age.”

He says while some might argue that this number could be considered relatively small, vaccines are recommended for other diseases which appear at much lower frequencies in the U.S. population.

Cohen detailed his own experience treating COVID cases in young people and how he has, firsthand, seen the “devastating” impact it can have on children.

“I have to tell you that in my own practice as a pediatric cardiac surgeon, I’m putting patients on ECMO, which is sort of in stages life support that I put a fair number of children on,” Cohen added. “Some have survived, some have not. I’ve actually seen a child as young as five months of age with COVID. It’s pretty impressive that they can get this sick.”

“Because this is so devastating, at least has the potential to be so devastating, I think the vaccine is warranted in this age group as long as it’s safe and effective, and that’s what the FDA determined,” he said.

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