So kids vaccines are now approved, but

The Quarantine Zone
21

Our pediatrician scrapped plans for a 2nd clinic for unknown reasons, but I’m guessing uncertainty in vaccine supply. They redirected us to another clinic and we were able to schedule appointments for Sun. Nov 14th.

But the dumb thing is CPS declared Friday Nov 12th, Vaccination awareness day, canceled the school day, and is encouraging families to use the time to get their children vaccinated. Of course, there are no appointments available anywhere for that day and the schools aren’t offering on site vaccination events so that just leaves some parents scrambling for child care with a weeks notice.

It would be nice if we could get vaccinated on that day instead of on a day where they have school the next day.

…day

day’s one of those words that starts looking weird if you stare at it.

22

Oh, that’s infuriating! And the right answer is so obvious. Don’t cancel school, set up a clinic at schools, rotate the kids whose parents consent through, give them all a piece of candy afterward for their bravery, and encourage the teachers to keep the rest of the day low-key and fun, like put on a movie or something. Parents who want their kids vaccinated will be grateful, idiot parents can opt out, kids get candy and a movie, and teachers can still get a little bit of a break to grade papers while the kids watch said movie.

23

They did now email us some locations that are doing vaccinations on that day. I clicked on it and the 5-11 age slots were already booked. But they are trying!

24

My 5 1/2 year old grandson in Indiana got his first thing, which was good since they ran out later that day. My daughter is quite relieved, since Indiana is not all that good for either vaccines or masking.

25

That’s an awful lot to set up in a week.

Canceling school seems silly, but maybe it will normalize getting vaccinated.

26

We got the kids in earlier. And on vaccination day! (youtube video)

The kiddos were troopers.

27

I want to wait 30 days after the kids were considered “recovered” from covid to get them vaccinated. I’m concerned about them having a big reaction to the vaccine. Particularly because they’ll need to get a second dose, so it’s both that I don’t want them to suffer unnecessarily in the short term, and I also don’t want them to dread the second shot, or be very resistant to it. And I have confidence they are protected for 30 days – probably much more, but it’s hard to get info on that.

As it turns out, I initially couldn’t get them in until more like two months after. I booked those appointments, then kept checking and I was able to reschedule closer to the 30-day mark. But one kid is scheduled at a pharmacy that’s way on the outskirts of town, probably at least a 30 minute drive away.

Many pharmacies don’t have it listed on their websites yet, or don’t list any locations that have it within hundreds of miles of us.

I did learn that the school district has a clinic planned at my kids’ school, but the date hasn’t been announced yet. It will be in the late afternoon and evening, after school. A parent will have to be present. They will also offer adult vaccinations and boosters to the adults, which is a great idea.

I hope the timing works out for this, as it would be convenient, and probably a better experience for the kids to be part of the brave-Covid-fighters group of peers, all getting vaxxed together. Probably very comforting and conducive to being brave.

We also heard from our kids’ doctor’s office that they won’t be offering the vaccine there. They recently sent out a message explaining they have scaled back their services due to staffing shortages. But, the healthcare group they are part of is offering pediatric vaccination clinics at the same site as their drive-through testing. It requires an appointment, and they’re only scheduling a week at a time, and only by phone. So, that’s another option for us once the target date gets closer.

I expected availability to ramp up faster than it has, but I suppose it is moving at a decent clip.

28

Why wouldn’t they be available at all the same places as the adult vaccines? I expect the dose is probably different, but isn’t it otherwise the same stuff? And isn’t varying dosages something that pharmacies do all the time?

29

No, it’s actually a slightly different formulation for some reason. Also the needle length is different.

Here’s what happened when a location tried to ‘adjust’ the adult version.

30

No, it’s actually a completely different packaging, orange instead of blue:

Compared to:

31

Got the first round into my kid on Sunday. We had a 4:30 appointment, arrived at 4:15, and didn’t get out of there until almost 5:20.

I’m really glad the place was full, and so many kids and adults were getting vaccinated, but making a kid wait in line for an hour is not good for needle anxiety.

Whoever set out the pile of hula hoops, that was genius. I’m sure they prevented many boredom and anxiety related meltdowns. I’m just disappointed I missed getting a picture of my kid literally (literally!) jumping through hoops to get a COVID vaccine.

32

I think this might be the best place for this question: We got my kids in for a first shot. The official timing in the US remains 3 weeks for Pfizer for kids. Does anyone know anything about optimal timing? We were thinking at least 6 weeks, particularly since the kids both have now had covid, so they are less vulnerable.

I read recently that, a European country (Germany, maybe?) was vaccinating younger kids on a 12 week schedule between doses, but it was at least partly about keeping supplies available for boosters for older people.

33

I don’t think there have been organized studies of the best timing. We have “natural” experiments from different countries choosing different priorities. Mix the lack of clean data with the differences between the immune system of kids and adults, and the short experience of covid vaccines in kids, and I’m pretty sure no one can give you a really solid answer to that question.

34

Canada is following the 12 week schedule, but you can request as short as 3 weeks with informed consent. There have been articles in the paper all week about what parents should do.

35

There certainly have been such studies and if the end point desired is the degree of protection after the second dose then longer is better. Certainly longer than 3 weeks.

36

Of course if the claim is regarding vaccine spacing studies for children that’s a different deal. I’m not aware of any that cover that specific demographic, but the evidence is strong for longer=better for adults.

37

Thanks. Ignorance fought.

Three weeks is an absurdly short interval when compared to other vaccines. Pfizer tested and promoted 3 weeks as a way to protect people as soon as possible during a crisis.

38

Absolutely, speed was of the essence in the early stages. The work was being done at such a furious rate that it was the shortest gap that could be meaningfully incorporated into a clinical trial and still get fast, good data for the submission process. The same was true of the storage temperature. The -80C requirement just made sure that there were definitely no stability issues.

Of course those very conservative/expedient figures then form part of the original approval and sort of become the “standard” in many people’s minds with a reluctance to vary from them even though further work has been done to both extend the gap for doses and to increase the temperature and time for storage purposes.

39

In the US, those “some people” are the FDA, which tends to very conservatively only recommend exactly what was studied.

40

Believe me, I’m intimately acquainted with the FDA and many other similar agencies around the world. They’ve been a constant in my professional life for the last 20 years.
Flexible they ain’t (but for the most part with very good reason), they do not like surprises or changes unless you do substantial work to justify them.