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Gov. Roy Cooper says getting your child vaccinated is the ‘responsible thing to do’

Charlotte Observer - 11/4/2021

Gov. Roy Cooper visited a vaccine clinic for children in Chapel Hill on Thursday to promote vaccination for children age 5 to 11 on their second day of eligibility for the shot.

He said getting children vaccinated is “the responsible thing to do.”

“Parents should take this seriously. Parents have the responsibility for their children,” Cooper said after touring the clinic. “The responsible thing to do, when you’ve got all these clinical trials that have occurred, when you know the risk for your children, is to go ahead and make sure your children are vaccinated.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Tuesday that children age 5 to 11 receive the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer after the Food and Drug Administration authorized it last week.

Vaccinations for that age group started being offered nationwide on Wednesday.

‘No serious side effects’

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said the vaccine for children has gone through the same clinical trials as the one for adults.

“These vaccines went through a rigorous clinical trial. They looked at any sort of side effects, and what they saw in the trials is no serious side effects,” Cohen said.

In its submission for authorization to the FDA, Pfizer found that the vaccine created antibody response in children similar to what it does in adults.

And while the vaccine does pose a very rare risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, especially in young males, infectious disease specialists say that contracting COVID-19 itself carries a much higher risk of the condition, The News & Observer reported.

And for those who do experience myocarditis from the vaccine, it is almost always a mild, treatable case. The risk of mycodartis from the vaccine in males age 12 to 17 is 54 in one million, according to the CDC.

“We have this safe — again, no serious adverse side effects — and effective tool. We just want folks to act as soon as possible,” Cohen said.

She said her two children in that age bracket are getting vaccinated Saturday.

“I wouldn’t recommend something that I wouldn’t do for my own kids,” Cohen said.

She compared the vaccine to booster seats and seatbelts in cars that prevent serious injury and death in accidents.

“We want to make sure they’re protected. I see vaccines as the same thing. We want to make sure we’re protecting our kids,” Cohen said.

And she emphasized that she supports parents asking questions about the vaccine.

“It’s OK to ask questions, but we hope that folks will get the right answers to those questions from their pediatrician or other medical providers, and make the decision to get vaccinated,” Cohen said.

‘Kids are vulnerable to COVID-19’

During the summer’s surge of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus, children with COVID-19 were causing pediatric intensive care units to fill with patients, The N&O reported.

“Kids are vulnerable to COVID-19. We’ve unfortunately seen in this last wave of the delta surge, we’ve seen almost a 200% increase in the number of cases we’re seeing in kids 5 to 11, and sadly, some of those kids have ended up in the hospital,” Cohen said.

She said some children suffer long-term effects from the virus, a condition commonly referred to as long COVID.

“While kids do get it less often and get less sick, we did see a lot of kids unfortunately get very sick and sometimes have lasting effects of COVID,” Cohen said. “What we’re seeing from a risk perspective is that the vaccine is safe, with no serious side effects. And the benefits are protecting my child from what could be bad outcomes from COVID-like hospitalization.”

As of Thursday, 41% of children age 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated in North Carolina.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 240,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19 in North Carolina, 16% of all confirmed cases.

Ten children, a majority of those in last few months after the delta surge, have died due to the disease.

There are no known cases of children dying from the vaccine in North Carolina.

Comments on vaccine mandates

The Biden administration announced Thursday that employers with 100 workers or more have until Jan. 4 to have their employees be fully vaccinated or have them tested weekly.

Cooper said he supported more businesses taking measures to get their employees vaccinated.

“To move past this pandemic, we have to get more shots in arms,” Cooper said. “We’re supportive and continue to work with businesses across our state to get more of their employees vaccinated, not only for protection of their employees but for their customers and their families as well.”

As of Wednesday, 56% of all North Carolinians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Among those age 12 to 17, 41% have taken their shots.

“The process of vaccinations for children, whether they are required, is one that’s going to be decided by the public health commission,” Cooper said when asked about possible vaccine mandates for school-age children.

Cohen said a mandate would be premature.

“What — we’re day two here? Our message here is to make sure folks understand what the science and data is,” she said.

The state currently doesn’t have a goal for number of children vaccinated.

“As many as we can,” Cooper said.

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