(CKOM News staff)

By Dallas Dahlseide/ CKOM News

Doctor addresses parents’ skepticism about COVID vaccines for children

Nov 25, 2021 | 6:12 PM

While some parents are determined to have their sons and daughters vaccinated against COVID-19, other parents have a different mindset.

Skeptical parents in the province want to see a bit of time go by to see how other kids react to getting the Pfizer vaccine. Children between the ages of five and 11 in Saskatchewan started getting jabs on Wednesday.

Depending how the procedure goes, those parents could give the green light to allow their own kids to get vaccinated in the future.

“I think the most common thing that I hear people say is that they want to wait for a while,” Dr. Carla Holinaty said during Thursday’s Greg Morgan Morning Show.

“It’s important to know there’s been about three million kids vaccinated just in the U.S. alone. This is millions and millions of kids worth of data on how safe this vaccine is.”

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Other parents are skeptical about the risk of their children’s death. Holinaty says that’s another common concern many parents have, but stresses the vaccine does so many other things than reduce the risk of dying.

“There are still complications that we see in kids who had COVID, so we’re still helping protect them from those other things. It’s not just trying to prevent death in these kids,” Holinaty said.

With some parents firmly choosing to not vaccinate their kids, it begs the question for parents on the fence whether or not it’s worth it. Holinaty says there’s still a huge benefit to getting the vaccine either way.

“Vaccinations still protect your kids, so as a parent, you care about your kids more than any other kids on the planet,” she said.

“(The vaccine) protects them from getting sick, protects them from those potential long-term complications, (and) protects them from even that small risk of death.”

Several kids have already received the flu shot and, as a result, are being asked to space out their vaccinations.

“Right now, the recommendation is to space them out by 14 days,” Holinaty said.

“That’s not because of a concern about safety, but it’s more to watch for side effects, so that we know if there are side effects, which vaccine it came from.”