In order to protect the youngest in our population, doctors say it’s important everyone understands the age restriction guidelines surrounding the vaccine.
“We want everybody to be on the same page,” said President of the Dallas County Medical Society, Dr. Beth Kassanoff-Piper. “Parents, children, adults, the elderly, everybody needs to understand when it's their time to get it.”
News that children as young as six years old may have recently received the vaccine in North Texas is especially concerning for pediatricians.
“It has to be certified and approved to give the vaccine and with children we don't have that yet,” warned Dr. Pablo Anglas with the Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
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The challenge some families face has to do with communication. If English isn’t their first language, the vaccine distribution process can be confusing. That's why Dr. Anglas recommends translators should be available at vaccination sites.
“Not only in English and Spanish, but we have a lot of population from other countries, like from Europe or Eastern Asia, that need the information. It has to be for everybody,” Anglas said.
Testing the effectiveness and dosage levels for kids is critical before the vaccine can be available to them.
“Kids are a little bit different, they're still growing, there's mechanisms within the body that work differently than they do on adults,” Kassanoff-Piper said. “So we always want to check in and kids have particular ages for additional side effects for potential complications “
Until that happens, doctors warn that parents and vaccine administrators need to be vigilant to make sure no one under the age of sixteen is vaccinated.
“As soon as we have the vaccine for children, we're going to be very happy. It’s been a year with this so we are looking forward to immunizing everybody, but safety first,” said Anglas.
