UPMC stresses vaccine safety

Young children, pregnant women have nothing to fear from COVID-19 shot

Parents should not fear getting their young children vaccinated for COVID-19, and neither should pregnant women, according to UPMC experts said Friday.

The risk for both the young children authorized this week to receive the Pfizer shot -- and for previously authorized pregnant women -- comes from failing to be vaccinated, according to Tami Minnier, UPMC's chief quality officer; Dr. Alejandro Hoberman, president of UPMC Children's Community Pediatrics; and Dr. Richard Beigi, president of UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital.

The trials on which the Food and Drug Administration based its approval for kids 5-11 to receive the Pfizer vaccine involved about 3,000 subjects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It was "thoroughly studied," Hoberman said.

Vaccines train the body's immune system, then disappear in a few days, so there's no worry about long-term side effects. This has been demonstrated by various vaccines for many years, the experts said.

"(It) doesn't stick around," Hoberman said.

Reports of myocarditis are very rare, and the "vast majority" who contract it recover, according to Hoberman.

The risk of myocarditis and the likelihood of it being more severe are higher for children who get COVID-19 because they are unvaccinated, Hoberman said.

And while children are not as vulnerable to COVID-19 as those who are much older, they still get infected, still need hospitalization and still die, he said.

In the U.S., 2 million children 5-11 have tested positive for the illness, 8,300 have been hospitalized and 94 have died, according to Hoberman.

Altogether, 750 younger than 18 have died of COVID-19, he said.

"Some may say the rates are low (in children)," Hoberman said. "But 750 is too many."

The young kids get a dose that is one-third the potency of an adult dose, according to Hoberman.

UPMC is giving the shots mainly at pediatricians' offices, where parents and kids are "comfortable," he said.

The side effects can include minor pain at the injection site, a low fever, headache and fatigue for one or two days, Hoberman said.

The case is also strong for vaccinations of pregnant women, according to Beigi, an obstetrician.

Tens of thousands of pregnant women have been vaccinated for COVID-19, "and the data is clear: the vaccines are safe," Beigi said. "Thousands of healthy babies and no negative effects."

Rumors that vaccines are causing infertility and miscarriages are "a complete myth," Beigi said.

The risk for pregnant women is not getting vaccinated, yet only about a third of pregnant women are getting shots nationwide, with the ratio holding true in this area, Beigi said.

"Unfortunately (those women) have focused more on the theoretical risk, rather than the very real risk of the disease," he said.

He and his colleagues see "the devastating effects" of that misapplied focus at Magee, he said.

Some women have died and others are so sick at delivery they can't see their newborns for weeks, he said.

Nearly every Magee patient who has become critically ill with COVID-19 has been unvaccinated, Beigi added.

The risk calculus that applies for vaccinations of young children and pregnant women reflects the overall COVID-19 situation, Minnier said.

"People who are admitted to the hospital by and (large) are not vaccinated," she said. It's the same for those in intensive care.

People overall are 10 times more likely to die of COVID-19 if they're unvaccinated, Minnier said.

"Let that sink in," she said at one point.

People tell her they're healthy and if they get COVID-19, they'll be fine, Minnier said.

Not necessarily, she said.

The vaccine-hesitant say, "'We just don't know,'" Minnier said.

"(But) we do know!" she said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.