Vaccinating Kids 12 & Up: VA Patch Readers Give Cautious Yes

VIRGINIA — After federal authorization for the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine was expanded to children aged 12 to 15, Patch surveyed Virginia readers on their willingness to vaccinate these age groups or younger children.

Last week, the Virginia Department of Health allowed vaccine providers to begin administering the Pfizer vaccine to ages 12 to 15 in addition to ages 16 and older. The FDA expanded its emergency use authorization to the 12 to 15 age group, and a CDC committee recommended the vaccine for adolescents after a clinical trial for participants aged 12 to 15 found the Pfizer vaccine to be 100 percent effective at least seven days after the second dose.

Our survey opened to Patch readers after the vaccine became available to the 12 to 15 age group. The survey was available from the afternoon of Thursday, May 13 through noon on Tuesday, May 18. We asked about readers' perception of the safety of effectiveness of the vaccines, their vaccination status, and whether they would vaccinate their children. We received 425 total responses, but not all questions were required. Less people responded to our questions specific to parents of children ages 12 to 15 and younger. Parents of children under age 16 represented 85.4 percent of respondents.

A majority of respondents — 73.6 percent — said they had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Another 22.8 percent do not plan to get the vaccine, and the remaining 3.5 percent plan to get the vaccine.

At least half of respondents said they were highly confident in the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. A total of 54.4 percent of the 425 responses said they were highly confident in the effectiveness, 19.1 percent said somewhat confident, 12.5 percent said highly unconfident, 8.2 percent said neither confident nor unconfident, and 5.9 percent said somewhat unconfident.

Regarding the safety of the vaccine, 50.6 percent are highly confident, 17.2 percent are somewhat confident, 15.5 percent are highly unconfident, 9.2 percent are somewhat unconfident, and 7.5 percent said neither confident nor unconfident.

The next section featured optional questions about vaccinating children. When asked about vaccinating children aged 12 to 15, 333 responded. A total of 53.5 percent said they intend to get them vaccinated, 31.2 percent said they don't intend to get them vaccinated, 7.8 percent were undecided, and the remainder said they didn't have children in this age group.

We offered an opportunity for respondents to share why they would or wouldn't get children vaccinated.

Some respondents said they got their children vaccinated as soon as they were eligible or scheduled vaccinations for their children.

"My children are in sports and activities and we travel for their activities and Covid breakouts keep happening amongst their groups," said one respondent. "It’s important to get the vaccine and keep everyone safe so this stops transmitting around, causing unnecessary quarantines for groups of people exposed, as well as prevent older people who may not be vaccinated from being exposed even if they refuse to be vaccinated based on their own ignorance."

"Since all the adults in my family and extended family got vaccinated, I want my kids to get the same protection from covid 19 as we did," another person wrote. "Also having kids vaccinated would help all schools and sporting events open and get back to normal."

Those opposed want to see more insight on long-term effects or believe the COVID-19 risk is low for children.

"The risks of Covid in children do not warrant a vaccine for them," said one respondent. "I would hate to give my kids a vaccine only to find out they have a side effect from it a year or 2 from now. Developing bodies are very different than adult ones. Almost every physician knows that it takes time for some side effects to show up."

"No need to take even the mildest risk of a vaccine for a child," another said. "Children do not get significantly sick, nor easily spread COVID. People who are high risk have the ability to get vaccinated, and that is their responsibility."

A COVID-19 vaccine is currently not approved for children under age 12, but we asked readers if they'd be likely to vaccinate these younger ages. Of the 356 responses, 31.5 percent said they would be likely to get children under 12 vaccinated, 28.9 percent said they wouldn't, and 6.2 percent were undecided. The remaining 33.4 percent said they didn't have kids in this age group.

Similar to the comments regarding ages 12 to 15, some respondents commented about not knowing long-term effects of the vaccine on developing children. While some indicated they would not give the vaccine to younger children, others want to see more research before deciding.

"I do not think there is enough research on long term effects to warrant giving the vaccine to children, who are still developing," one person wrote. "This age group would almost all be prepubescent, this is an important developmental time. I would not give this vaccine to a child without more research."

"My 6 year old was diagnosed with COVID by a doctor in November, though she did not get tested," said another person. "It was no worse than a cold for her. I don't believe someone that age without an underlying issue should have to get the vaccine because data has proven they are far less affected by COVID."

"We will vaccinate our kids the minute the vaccine is approved for their age group (both kids are under 12)," another said. "Right now, we are living in limbo with both parents fully vaccinated, but the kids unvaccinated. We will not be changing any of our behaviors until our kids are fully vaccinated, as we have made too made sacrifices over the past 15 months to keep them safe to give up now."

Lastly, we asked about support for requiring the vaccine for school attendance. Readers were split — 47.5 percent support requiring the vaccine, 44.9 percent do not, and 7.5 percent are unsure.

Some readers pointed out that other vaccines are required for school attendance. Others argued that COVID-19 vaccines are under emergency use authorization rather than approval.

"Vaccinations have been required for students for many years," one person said. "I'm old enough to remember Polio. We trusted the medical profession back then and it worked. We know a lot more now and don't wait for others to contribute to herd immunity. Your unvaccinated child might transmit a deadly virus to more vulnerable people and we do know that there can be long term consequences to the virus."

"The school system has no business getting involved in my child's vaccine status," another person said. "All school employees and parents should be vaccinated, or live with the consequences if they are not. If the CDC comes out with a solid review of the vaccine's effect on our children along with a CLEAR logical case for why this is important, I will be the first in line for my children to get their shot."

But even some respondents that got the vaccine themselves do not believe it should be required for everyone.

"Vaccines are a personal choice. I'm fully vaccinated adult," said one person. "None of my children ages 12-16 will be getting the vaccine at this point when the statistics show that children that get Covid recover just fine over 99% of the time."

"Common sense should dictate getting a vaccine," another person wrote. "I am against forcing it on someone as they may have a valid issue not to get one on a case by case basis."