We’ve seen another rise in cases, which UW Medicine’s Doctor Ali Mokdad chalks up to our return to more normal social activities and very little mask-wearing. Mokdad says the number of cases is underreported with so much home COVID testing, and he says we’ve seen a big jump in kids getting sick, so he says it’s important to keep them protected.
Mokdad says we’ve maxed out on getting adults vaccinated, and the percentage of kids 5 to 11 with their initial shots is 35.7% in Washington. It’s often, he says, because parents are hesitant or misinformed. That’s why Mokdad says they’ve emphasized a greater push for anti-viral drugs, even though they’re not yet authorized for kids under 12. “The irony here, I mean people don’t question what’s in this anti-viral medication, but they question what’s in the vaccine,” Mokdad says, “That discussion aside, it’s very important for all of us to make sure we have the tools to prevent mortality and not to overrun our hospitals.” Mokdad anticipates it won’t be long before the anti-virals Molnupiravir and Paxlovid will get emergency use authorization for younger children.
As for vaccines for kids under 5, Mokdad says he expects they’ll be approved soon with the reminder that drug trials for children take a lot longer than for adults. Mokdad says it’s harder to recruit enough children; trial clinicians are very deliberate about testing the dosage amount to find the most optimal; and those trials are halted immediately if there’s even a hint of a problem until they determine that any problems were not caused by the drug itself.
The boosters for 5 to 11 year olds were given the green light Friday by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Group, but local pharmacies were already taking appointments for them because they follow federal rules and were not obligated to wait for Western States’ approval.