How/are you changing what your <5 y.o. does in light of Omicron and the Pfizer vaccine trial issues?
@christina12345 Can you please cite me a study that concludes long-COVID is pretty common in children? Thanks!
@christina12345 There is so much noise on this topic. Here is a much more recent study (mid-November) showing the opposite result, most children recover completely from COVID within a month, and even those with persistent symptoms clear up within a few months.
https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(21)00555-7/fulltext?s=09
Personally, after reading about it, I am of the opinion that Long COVID fears are exaggerated for adults, and even more so for children. So I plan on continuing to live life with my son and help him have a full, colorful, normal childhood. You're free to choose differently for your family, but I truly believe in 5 years you will look back and see it was unnecessary.
https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(21)00555-7/fulltext?s=09
Personally, after reading about it, I am of the opinion that Long COVID fears are exaggerated for adults, and even more so for children. So I plan on continuing to live life with my son and help him have a full, colorful, normal childhood. You're free to choose differently for your family, but I truly believe in 5 years you will look back and see it was unnecessary.
@christina12345 Also, not to be a pill, but the author of the very study you cited literally said this in the article:
"Armann suspects numbers might not be that high. Long-COVID symptoms include fatigue, headache, difficulty concentrating and insomnia. He says that other pandemic-related phenomena, such as school closures and the trauma of seeing family members sick or dying from COVID-19 could result in those symptoms too, and artificially inflate long-COVID estimates. “You need a control group to tease out what is truly infection-related,” he says.
He and his colleagues have been taking blood samples from secondary-school children in Dresden since May 2020 to track rates of infection. In March and April this year, surveys were taken from more than 1,500 children — nearly 200 of whom had antibodies indicating previous SARS-CoV-2 infection — to see how many reported long COVID.
In May, Armann’s group reported in a preprint that it found no difference in rates of symptoms reported by the two groups3. “This was kind of striking,” says Armann, and suggests that long COVID in children is probably lower than some studies have indicated. That doesn’t mean that long COVID doesn’t exist in children, he says, but it does mean the number is probably below 10%, a level that would have been picked up in the study. The true figure is perhaps as low as 1%, he says."
You copy-pasted the fearful intro and didn't include the very strong caveat.
"Armann suspects numbers might not be that high. Long-COVID symptoms include fatigue, headache, difficulty concentrating and insomnia. He says that other pandemic-related phenomena, such as school closures and the trauma of seeing family members sick or dying from COVID-19 could result in those symptoms too, and artificially inflate long-COVID estimates. “You need a control group to tease out what is truly infection-related,” he says.
He and his colleagues have been taking blood samples from secondary-school children in Dresden since May 2020 to track rates of infection. In March and April this year, surveys were taken from more than 1,500 children — nearly 200 of whom had antibodies indicating previous SARS-CoV-2 infection — to see how many reported long COVID.
In May, Armann’s group reported in a preprint that it found no difference in rates of symptoms reported by the two groups3. “This was kind of striking,” says Armann, and suggests that long COVID in children is probably lower than some studies have indicated. That doesn’t mean that long COVID doesn’t exist in children, he says, but it does mean the number is probably below 10%, a level that would have been picked up in the study. The true figure is perhaps as low as 1%, he says."
You copy-pasted the fearful intro and didn't include the very strong caveat.
christina12345
New member
@pcross39 And saying that there is “very very little known risk” requires an extreme interpretation of what is known. What is known is that long covid definitely happens in children, including cognitive issues and organ damage. It’s just a fact. And currently there is a pretty huge range of what the risk is. I’m sure you can find a study to support any position you prefer to take.
A risk that is not well understood should not be equated to low risk.
A risk that is not well understood should not be equated to low risk.
christina12345
New member
Look, if you want to announce to the world that the risk doesn’t concern you, that’s fine.
But instead you are announcing to the world that its a “very very little known risk”. That’s a problem. It’s simply not true.
Go live your life and do what you will with your child, but if you try to spread misrepresentation of the risk, you’re going to get called on it.
But instead you are announcing to the world that its a “very very little known risk”. That’s a problem. It’s simply not true.
Go live your life and do what you will with your child, but if you try to spread misrepresentation of the risk, you’re going to get called on it.
@christina12345 I find this conversation absolutely ridiculous. We accept all sorts of unknown risks every single day. I'm not going to stop living life with my family because of a possible 1% risk of having a condition that seems to resolve almost entirely within a year. You're welcome to live life that way, but I won't, and my son won't either. Take care.
christina12345
New member
@edwina958 It’s being pushed to second quarter of 2022, rather than the first, just a few more months.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/12/17/health/pfizer-vaccine-children/index.html
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/12/17/health/pfizer-vaccine-children/index.html
sonofjay817
New member
@pcross39 The the post you are referring to has a bad headline. If you click on the link the article says that this set back doesn't effect the plan to apply for emergency authorization in the second quarter of 2022 or somewhere between April and June of 2022. It also says they will be starting trials in January. I don't blame you for being confused but this is really only a minor glitch and they just need to re adjust the dosage.
@agent47 I'm not sure many parents are going to feel comfortable giving an emergency authorization vaccine to infants, but idk.
Most parents I know are even waiting on full approval for the currently approved vaccine for 5-16.
Edited to add: Even best-case-scenerio 5 months longer of restrictions on children seems unnecessary. Plus, even then people will be worried about the next wave and next booster.
COVID is going to be endemic and protection will not be perfect.
Most parents I know are even waiting on full approval for the currently approved vaccine for 5-16.
Edited to add: Even best-case-scenerio 5 months longer of restrictions on children seems unnecessary. Plus, even then people will be worried about the next wave and next booster.
COVID is going to be endemic and protection will not be perfect.
unitedmethodistman18
New member
@unitedmethodistman18 Great, but waiting to do things with family and friends because of Omnicron fears and lack of a vaccine is still unnecessary and not data-driven. It's fear-driven and this sub is supposed to be parents who care most about hard, cold science.
unitedmethodistman18
New member
@pcross39 I didn't say anything about waiting.
We are still going out and doing stuff.
However with the rise in cases we are definitely more hesitant to go to any crowded indoor areas with my son.
It's too early to change behavior based on what omicron may or may not do. The (semi expexted) holiday rise in cases is discouraging.
We are still going out and doing stuff.
However with the rise in cases we are definitely more hesitant to go to any crowded indoor areas with my son.
It's too early to change behavior based on what omicron may or may not do. The (semi expexted) holiday rise in cases is discouraging.
@unitedmethodistman18 Then I agree with you. 
(Sorry, I'm playing whack-a-mole with hardcore restrictionists in my replies. I assumed you were one of them.)
I also am wary of crowded places rn, but that's out of a concern for RSV or the seasonal flu, which is much more deadly for infants than COVID.
(Sorry, I'm playing whack-a-mole with hardcore restrictionists in my replies. I assumed you were one of them.)I also am wary of crowded places rn, but that's out of a concern for RSV or the seasonal flu, which is much more deadly for infants than COVID.