7:09 p.m. ET, May 10, 2021
Pediatricians prepare to vaccinate 12-to-15-year-olds against Covid-19
From CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas
The US Food and Drug Administration
authorized Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for children and teens ages 12 to 15 Monday. Now pediatricians are preparing to vaccinate the youngest cohort of Covid-19 vaccine recipients yet.
A delivery of 1,000 Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived at Sandhills Pediatrics in Southern Pines, North Carolina, early this morning. Dr. Christoph Diasio, a pediatrician at the office, is preparing to start vaccinating his patients as soon as possible.
“We've been playing defense for 15 months,” said Diasio. “It's time to go on offense and end this thing.”
For years now, Diasio’s office has been offering routine vaccinations to family members who come in with pediatric patients – which he says is a pretty common practice among pediatricians nationwide. With the Covid-19 vaccine, Diasio hopes it will also be a way to overcome some hesitancy.
“We feel that primary care is going to have a real role with the folks who are a little bit hesitant or just need some questions answered,” he said. “Maybe the community, for whatever reason, trusts their family doctor or their pediatrician more than they trust, for example, a corporate pharmacy.”
Diasio said his office has not yet offered Covid-19 vaccines to patients 16 and older, partially because his community has been able to cover the need with existing vaccine sites.
“I think we’re moving to a phase of the campaign where now we need to be giving the Covid vaccine like we do the flu vaccine, where it’s just a regular part of what we do every day,” Diasio said.
Diasio said quite a few family members have recently called the office to inquire about when their 12-to-15-year-olds can make an appointment to get vaccinated.
One of those family members is Betsy Saye, who is eager to get her 14-year-old daughter Hannah vaccinated. Hannah is the youngest member of the family and the only person in the household yet to be vaccinated against coronavirus.
She was born with a heart defect that places her at high risk for Covid-19. Her family decided that the benefits of Hannah being protected against the virus outweigh any potential risks associated with the vaccine.
Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet Wednesday to discuss if and how the vaccine should be recommended for use in this age group, and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will make the final recommendation.