@edwina958 As a parent, I’m throwing up my hands. My 2yo already had COVID and rode it out like a champ. He needs to grow and develop and he already has some memory immunity. I think the risk from reinfection for him is lower than the risk of more isolation.
On the other hand, as a pediatrician, I have several kids in this age group who are at high risk for complications and I don’t know what I’m going to tell those parents. It’s just so devastating.
Maybe it’s time to lobby for some “right to try” legislation to use the higher dose of 10mcg on younger kids for parents who want it. I dunno, I’m not a lawyer or legislator.
@alyakim I’d love to read up on what the undesirable side effects were that made them go from 10mcg to 3mcg and then be given the choice to take my chances with them.
@ashla Things like fever and malaise. When you’re giving vaccines to a healthy population you really want to minimize side effects. But as far as I know, they never gave a higher dose to younger children. They were just worried the 10 µg was going to be too strong.
@alyakim Ahh, I thought they gave 10mcg to the young groups in phase 1. I know 30mcg was originally in phase 1 for 5-11 and was eliminated due to effects, thought that was what happened here.
@ashla I confess I am not sure, but I thought they started at 3, and right now I have a sick toddler with a non-COVID URI babbling at me so… looking it up is somewhere down my list of priorities for today.
We aren't really changing our current practices but we were starting to feel hopeful about taking a flight to see my in laws after kiddo is vaccinated. Obviously that will be later than we hoped. We were also thinking we could start to see some friends indoors after kiddo was vaccinated; it's a bummer to push that back too. The area we live in doesn't get very cold so it's relatively comfortable to socialize outdoors during the day when it's not raining here (but we were looking forward to having friends over for dinner, et cetera..).
Currently kiddo (2.5) goes to a very cautious preschool and my partner and I both work from home. Neither of those will change anytime soon. Partner and I are both boostered. The only indoor places my kid goes are the doctor and his school, and at school they spend as much time as possible outside. (They also all wear masks, use ventilation when they are indoors, and all of the families have agreed to have every eligible household member vaccinated). We won't be doing any other indoor things with kiddo until he is vaccinated, and we avoid non-essential indoor spaces ourselves.
I'm not too worried about my kid but I am worried about my partner getting covid from our kid; even though they are vaccinated they have asthma and some other health issues that make complications more likely. Also I don't want to be responsible for spreading covid to anyone else!
@edwina958 Very different for us because we're in rural Australia with a handful of cases.
Basically we have a mindset of budgeting potential exposures- so we have to go to work, there are things we want to do for our mental health and child's development. We get our groceries through click and collect and don't go to restaurants often to save "dicerolls" for things we want to do.
Outdoor gathering. Avoiding socialising with the unvaccinated as much as possible. Limiting shopping.
@cindyfernandez I like the mindset of choosing “dice rolls.”
We also do curbside pickup for groceries. I can’t imagine using a dice roll to go do grocery shopping myself. Early in the pandemic I found a store that has their curbside pricing the same as in-store. We got over the hump of switching our routine.
@edwina958 Husband and I are vaxxed and boosted, we have a two year old and 9 month old. We feel it’s a matter of time until we get it, and we just hope that it’s a mild case. This is reaching endemic and I refuse to miss out on making memories with them. They are only young once.
Also, will my 9 month old be eligible for the vaccine before the older one?
@edwina958 We take moderate precautions and will continue to do so until our 11 month old can get vaccinated. We try to balance our risk tolerance with our mental health when deciding what to do. We send her to daycare because we both work outside the home, we take her in stores sometimes since our city is pretty good about masks, but we try to avoid taking her inside restaurants because people are eating maskless. We don’t worry too much about being around maskless people if we’re outside, but we try not to go to places that are really crowded. We socialize maskless indoors with a few people including family, and they’re all vaxxed and fairly cautious.
@edwina958 We aren’t changing anything. We have been reasonably careful - no indoor restaurants/gatherings, but our 10 month old has to go to daycare, because we aren’t willing to quit our jobs to keep her home. The risks just aren’t there for the under 5 set to make that calculation worth it for us. Omicron isn’t changing that.
@edwina958 We have 4 year old and 1.5. Both of us are vaccinated with Astra Zeneka. Last month we got infected and got by it as asymptomatic.
We were so careful for two years, basically because of my father who is diabetic, overweight and old. He didn't leave his home unless necessary and still he was the first to get infected then spread it to us.
This virus is impossible to miss, and kids will never be younger. Their youth passes so fast it is sad not to enjoy it and leave in fear. So they are doing everything that kids do.
@edwina958 I'm in my 3rd trimester so I kind of want to ramp things up. I was so hopeful that my toddler could get his first dose before#2 arrived, but that seems impossible now. So no indoor activities for my toddler if he takes his mask off, which he usually does for anything longer than 15 minutes. I think I might buy some at home tests for visitors too. It's really disappointing.
@oluwayinka I heard something promising about mom being vaccinated during pregnancy leading to antibodies passing through the placenta. I may have even read a study on here. Good luck to you, I understand the upset!
@riktelner Yes, I've done what I can. I'm vaccinated and boosted, but omicron seems like it's rendering the vaccines less effective. Thank you for the encouragement!
@edwina958 Keeping him home. No grocery stores for him since he can't wear a mask, we do not eat out, and no visits to grandparents (who are fully vaccinated with boosters, but they eat out and meet with unvaxxed people) after learning Omicron is 70 times more contagious.
@edwina958 It basically made me realize my 6 month baby was going to get COVID from me or my family even though we are vaccinated and boostered. At this point we have been socially distancing, not eating in public, traveling, ect for 2 years, and I accept that and hope we are are ok after.
@edwina958 My 3.5 year old daughter attends a small preschool in a highly vaxxed county, the classes don’t intermix and half the kids still wear masks. I am high risk and getting more sick with digestive stuff recently so we haven’t dined in a restaurant since February 2020. We are fine with our bubble and lots of outdoor activities.
Covid cases are surging again and I have several autoimmune disorders. This means that my antibodies disappear quicker and I also get more severe reactions with each shot. We don’t know if my daughter inherited any of my disorders yet (my mom and most of my female cousins also have them). We are going to cancel my daughter’s gymnastics class due to lack of precaution from the gym and we got some fresh filters for her masks. She has been wearing a mask since before she turned 2 and it doesn’t bother her. Her birthday is in the spring so we will probably just have a small bday celebration with the grandparents. That’s all she has ever known and she loves it. Maybe we will do a class party for her 5th or 6th bday.
Anyway, I’m of the mindset that I cannot afford these hospital bills for either of us and I didn’t come this far to give up now.
@edwina958 Seriously considering pulling both my kids from school and daycare until this dies down again. I know at this point, they'll likely get it eventually anyway, but I'd rather they get it when the hospitals aren't overrun. Pulling them would mean my husband and I need to work something out to work outside normal hours or work double days so we can have the next day off. I'm dying inside
