SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 has been approved by federal officials. Tuesday, University of Utah Health officials spoke on the topic.
Once five-to-11-year-olds become fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Dr. Emily Spivak, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at the U, said it will help to slow the spread of the virus in the community.
“I think it’s incredibly important to get the pandemic under control, that every parent read this information, talk to your doctor about it, try and get all the facts,” she said. “And I would highly encourage everyone to get their kids age 5-to-11 vaccinated.”
Dr. Spivak continued to say some polling reports suggest parents will hold off on vaccinating their children until more data is available.
But she said there’s more safety data from clinical trials in this age group than available for other fully authorized vaccines that prevent childhood illnesses.
“People should realize, there’s already more safety data for this vaccine specifically for this age group, and then again, if you take the last year of vaccination data,” Dr. Spivak said. “Quite a bit of data to suggest how safe these vaccines are.”
Dr. Spivak said about 3,000 children were included in the clinical trials of Pfizer’s vaccine.
The FDA said no adverse side effects were reported during the clinical trials. However, a sore arm, fatigue, muscle pain, chills, and fever are some of the commonly reported side effects in five-to-11-year-old children.
For details on how to get your child vaccinated in Utah, visit coronavirus.utah.gov.
