Opinion: Lessons from polio about the need to vaccinate kids against Covid-19
As pediatricians, epidemiologists, and professors of public health — as well as mothers — we are often asked if we recommend Covid vaccines for children. Those asking are often skeptical about the benefits and make the point that relatively few kids have died from Covid-19.
There’s also some institutional confusion: the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged families to get their children vaccinated, but some doctors now say the boosters may not be necessary. A new survey suggests that levels of vaccine hesitancy, even among primary care doctors, may be higher than expected: About one in ten physicians who responded to the survey said they did not believe the vaccines were safe and about 8% said they did not think the Covid-19 vaccines were important.
