Vaccinating Kids Against Coronavirus: Patch Readers Weigh In

CALIFORNIA — California gave the green light for preteens and teens 12-15 to get their coronavirus vaccines following approval from the federal government earlier this week.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it was expanding its national emergency use authorization for the vaccine, and California's top health official, Dr. Mark Ghaly, later announced vaccine approval for youth was imminent in the Golden State.

"I think it's a tremendous opportunity for that group to sort of experience that sense of normalcy that they have been missing," Ghaly told reporters last week.

In a recent Patch survey, out of a pool of 364 respondents, voters were evenly split on whether they would vaccinate their own children under 16.

More than 46 percent said they would not vaccinate their kids under 16 while 47 percent said they would. Just 6.6 percent were undecided on the matter.

The survey — which drew more than 1,900 voters and appeared in questionnaire form this week on Patch — is meant not to be a scientific poll but only to give a broad idea of public sentiment. Some 80.7 percent of those who weighed in on the survey said they were the parent to a child under 16.

"It has been a conversation with our daughter," one respondent shared. "She wants to get it because she wants to be able to see friends and family without the fear of getting someone sick."

Appointments for anyone under 18 need to be made by a parent or legal guardian who must give consent to a provider administering the vaccine, the state announced. Emancipated minors do not need consent, and providers will accept written consent from a parent or guardian in many cases.

"We acted right away and reserved appointments for our 13 and 15-year-old boys at Walgreens in Studio City," another voter said. "We are so thankful the shots were available! The kids were happy to get protection against Covid-19."

Alternatively, 17.9 percent of voters who have children 16 and 17 years old said they would have them vaccinated. Some 22.9 percent said they would not have this age group vaccinated.

At least 30 percent of 16 and 17 year olds in California have received at least one vaccine shot, Ghaly said on Tuesday.

In the recent non-scientific survey, 1,913 Patch readers responded, with 48 percent of them saying they were "highly confident" in the effectiveness of the available coronavirus vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Some 22.1 percent said they were "highly unconfident" in the effectiveness of the vaccines.

Some 63 percent of voters in the survey said they had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, while 33 percent reported that they were unvaccinated and unwilling to be inoculated.

Inoculations are not necessarily required by public schools in California yet since the approval of the three vaccines fell under an emergency use authorization. But Golden State officials are urging parents to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, especially as the state prepares to reopen fully on June 15.

"Personally, I'm getting my own daughter, a 13-year-old, vaccinated so she can feel more confident and protected and spend some additional time with friends who she's increasingly seen over the last many weeks, but I know she has a lot of catching up to do," Ghaly said last week.

The state has reported more than 500 cases of severe COVID-19 in children, including kids who developed multisystem inflammatory disease, State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said last week.

"And we are seeing cases increase among younger people, both in California and nationally since they have not had the opportunity to be vaccinated," Pan said. "About half of our MSE or serious cases were previously healthy, and over half of those [kids] have been in the intensive care unit."

To date, California has reported 21 deaths in those under 18 related to COVID-19, Pan said.

"The median age of those deaths were 15-year-olds," Pan said. "So this is definitely the age range we want to protect. And again, we've been seeing more cases. So really exciting, we now have an opportunity to protect them."

Here are some of the thoughts Patch readers shared on inoculating preteens and teenagers:

"Still only approved for emergency use only. [The] risk posed to this age group does not warrant a vaccine."

"It's our patriotic duty and civil responsibility to vaccinate and protect our children as parents. Due to the vaccine hesitant, we can not reach herd immunity without including our children. The vaccine hesitant are getting a free ride from those responsible patriots."

"Experimental not fully approved! No long term data as to efficacy and side effects."

"With the low percentage of children dying from Covid, there is no need to vaccinate them against it, especially with a vaccine that was only released for emergency use and has not enough studies done on it to figure out any long-term effects."

"For the same reason I gave my child all the immunizations from birth: to protect my child’s life against serious and sometimes deadly diseases."

"These shots were to come out next year after the trials of this drug. How safe is this? After a few years are children going to get diseases due to the vaccine?"

"You are part of a test group either way you look at it, considering this is a novel virus. I'd rather take our chances with the vaccine than with the virus."

California's coronavirus data as of Sunday, May 15

• 3,663,539 total confirmed cases have been reported to date, with 4,954 new cases reported Sunday.
• 1.1% was the 7-day positivity rate as of Sunday.
• 62,941,545+ tests have been conducted in California.
• 61,444 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.
• 34,147,125 vaccine doses have been administered statewide.

Information about variants tracked in the Golden State can be found here.

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