parents have limited their own activities as well as those of siblings of chronic patients in order to avoid contact with the virus. that has meant some kids have not gone to daycare or camp since the pandemic began.
“parents whose kids have chronic conditions have that extra layer of worry that having covid, even if it’s mild, would de-balance their condition. it has impacted these fragile kids, so for them to be able to go back to some sort of normalcy with an extra reassurance is excellent.”
in addition to potentially complicating their conditions, when those children test positive for covid, it can interrupt their regular interventions, surgeries or scans.
kakkar said for the general population, she would leave it up to parents to make the decision on the vaccine for their children. since the vaccine was tested during the omicron wave, it is difficult to say how effective it will be to prevent infection against the more recent mutations, she said.
“for children, there won’t be a strong push to get vaccinated,” she said. “if parents are very worried about transmitting to elderly grandparents, that can be a benefit. some people don’t want to take any chances with covid, so while a majority of children do well, a set group of healthy children do get severe covid or the post-covid inflammatory syndrome. as an infectious-diseases doctor, any time i have a chance for a vaccine against any significant illness, i recommend it, but in this case, i would support either decision.”