Vaccines for infants and toddlers was given whole hearted approval by the CDC yesterday. Evidently this will save more lives since well over 2.5 million young children were infected once the pandemic started.

Even though deaths in young children are relatively uncommon compared with adults, covid-19 is a leading cause of death among children and adolescents, including 1- to 4-year-old children, according to the CDC. Medical professionals emphasized during the CDC advisory panel meeting that the disease is serious enough among young people that it should be treated as a risk similar to other diseases that kids are routinely vaccinated for.

That entire paragraph contradicts itself on multiple levels. Supposedly we are simultaneously supposed to believe that virus deaths in babies and toddlers is and was very uncommon, yet also believe that its the LEADING cause of death among the same?

Question: If this virus, which truly acts like. different kind of flu, has infected so many young children and babies, how come we weren’t treated to two years of 24/7 media reports about hospitalized children, funerals for those who passed, and heartsick parents? 

Between March 2020 and mid-June 2022, there were roughly 2.5 million cases of Covid-19 in children 4 years old and younger, and more than 200 deaths. During the Omicron wave, Covid-19-related hospitalizations among this age group surpassed older children, even without co-morbidities. Data presented by the CDC also showed that while roughly 71 percent of children under 4 show evidence of prior Covid-19 infection, it doesn’t appear that these prior infections offer adequate protection against future disease.

Well, that’s a ham-handed way of trying to claim that natural immunity doesn’t work! Then again, the CDC hasn’t believed in natural immunity since this mess began. 

Shifting advice has also contributed to a lack of enthusiasm. Daryl Richardson, 37, of Baltimore, said he had no plans to vaccinate his three children, in part because of the constant changes to the number of doses recommended.

“First it was one shot, and then it was a booster, and another booster,” he said.

After navigating the perils of the pandemic with their children for so long, parents now face new questions, some so complex they have stumped even regulators and experts. Which vaccine is better? How well, and how soon, will they work? And why bother, if the majority of young children have already been exposed to the virus?

Even Fauci, who has received two vaccines and TWO boosters got the ‘Rona last week. Several other public officials in the U.S. have gotten the same (some twice!) since they’ve been vaccinated and boosted. Given all those reports, I completely understand how the mixed messages leads to hesitancy on multiple levels. 

Here’s another concern over the CDC gleefully saying ‘go right ahead and vaccinate babies and toddlers!’ 

Representatives from the CDC also noted that they believed Covid-19 vaccines for these age groups could be administered with other vaccines, potentially saving parents and children trips to their health care providers. “We have extensive experience with non-Covid-19 vaccines that have demonstrated … adverse event profiles are generally similar when vaccines are administered simultaneously as when they are administered alone,” said Sara Oliver, the lead for the Covid-19 vaccines for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices work group within the CDC. Given the limited data on co-administering Covid-19 vaccines with others, though, she added that “providers can make decisions about administration on a case-by-case basis.”

Advisers also considered whether it would be possible to mix vaccines in this age group. The CDC’s clinical considerations team decided that it would issue guidance for practitioners saying that mixing between the two vaccines was acceptable, provided that a child received three doses total. If a child received two doses of the Moderna vaccine, they would be considered up-to-date.

Read through that again. Supposedly a Covid vaccine can be given at the same time as one of the other childhood vaccines because the “adverse event profiles are generally similar. Then there’s the ‘given the limited data on co-administering the vaccine’ with others… That really REALLY doesn’t inspire confidence as I read that as, little to NO studies have been conducted about giving the vaccine with other vaccines and monitoring the results! 

Everyone cheer! And those with babies and toddlers, call their pediatrician ASAP and schedule the shot! 

Yes, I’m being very sarcastic here. But I’m also speaking from a parent/grandparent’s point of view and I really worry. We have the new flu rampaging around with seemingly different iterations and the only thing the CDC can come up with is vaccines that are still under EAU (Emergency Authorized Use) only. 

Here’s another issue that should be explored in my opinion. Once the CDC started meeting about this the other day, I started seeing people writing concerns about the problems with the data that was being used during the discussions on Friday. 

CDC advisers are meeting Saturday to decide whether the benefits of Covid vaccines outweigh the risks for children under 5, the last Americans to qualify for shots.

They are all but guaranteed to vote yes, despite reservations about the paucity of data. https://t.co/OXLsnO2z0U

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 18, 2022

As we all know, Paucity means pretty much ZERO data. 

It gets worse… https://t.co/svzMf1NAFJ

— Kelley K * covid-georgia.com (@KelleyKga) June 17, 2022

The appropriate response would have been something like, "Wow, I thought I could trust the slides from the CDC, but it turns out there are some major flaws with that data that overstate the risk to children. Sorry for misleading everyone. I've deleted my previous tweet."

— Kelley K * covid-georgia.com (@KelleyKga) June 18, 2022

The data used to make the case should be solid and airtight. If this data was used, data that is looking like it is wrong or completely misinterpreted, this blows another hole in the credibility of the CDC.

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Feature Photo Credit: CDC Image of Public Health vaccine push via Creative Commons, cropped and modified