politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: I can't believe I have to keep doing this

Thursday, 28 October 2021

I can't believe I have to keep doing this

October 28, 2021

Hi, Kiera Butler here, on the coronavirus beat. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration's advisory committee recommended that the agency authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5-11. That approval could come any day now. Listen closely, and you may hear a collective sigh of relief emanating from millions of parents.

But not everyone is celebrating: Anti-vaccine activists are already planting seeds of doubt. Among disinformation experts, there's a strategy called "prebunking"—basically, educating people about the kinds of rumors they can expect to encounter. It's like, well, an immunization—but for disinformation. In that spirit, here are five claims that anti-vaxxers are already making, along with the reasons they're wrong.

Almost all kids who get severe cases of COVID-19 have pre-existing conditions, so we don't need vaccines for healthy kids that age. Nope: About a third of kids hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 2020 and June 2021 had no underlying conditions. What's more, the conditions that can increase a child's risk of severe COVID-19 are relatively common: They include asthma (7 percent of kids), immune-system problems, premature birth (nearly 10 percent), and obesity (20 percent). This year, COVID 19 is the sixth leading cause of death among 5-11-year-olds.

The kids' trial wasn't big enough to detect potential harmful effects from the vaccine. It's true that the size of the Pfizer trial for kids ages 5-11 was small—around 2,268 people, compared to about 44,000 in the adult trial. But here's some context: Among teens, the most common serious side effect was inflammation of the heart muscle, called myocarditis. Almost all cases of this condition resolved, and the risk of suffering from myocarditis as a result of COVID-19 infection was far greater. There weren't any cases of myocarditis in the kids' trial. One reason for this could be that the dose of the shot is lower, about a third of that given to teens and adults. But it's reasonable to believe that if this condition does crop up, it will follow a similar pattern to what we observed among teens.

For the final three infuriatingly persistent anti-vax myths, "prebunked", click here.

There will be more claims that bubble up in the coming weeks. Be on the lookout for supposed miracle cures, and remember that preying on parents' fear is a tactic in and of itself—and a remarkably effective one at that.

—Kiera Butler

We Debunk 5 Anti-Vax Myths About Kids’ COVID-19 Vaccines

Or more like "prebunk".

BY KIERA BUTLER

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