General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy are we NOT vaxxing kids now? We know the vaccine is perfectly safe
I think it is criminal that we haven't started making our kids safe too.
Scrivener7
(50,901 posts)fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)We know for absolutely certainty that it's safe for adults.
We went through all the right processes to ensure that it's safe for adults right?
So why the HELL didn't we do that for kids too?
Scrivener7
(50,901 posts)and that one of them, I forget which, is likely to be cleared for kids in a matter of weeks.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)But they shouldn't have a waited so long to get started.
Why on Earth couldn't they start both processes at the same time?
Lots of kids have died because they decided to take a vacation once the Adult vaccine reached full approval.
Scrivener7
(50,901 posts)Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)Last edited Sun Aug 22, 2021, 02:37 PM - Edit history (1)
New drugs are never tested on children. The medicine my daughter started taking in1995, as a child, is still not approved for use by children. Women are often excluded, as well because of the risk of pregnancy. Once a drug has received full FDA approval for adult use, based on the group it tested, even if the group excluded women, and was short on racial minorities, doctors start using it "off-label" for children, and, in essence, It is field tested, informally, on women, children, and racial minorities. We learn of the problems slowly, as data emerges in those populations.
The vaccine needs to be specifically tested for children, because we plan to give it to all children, making the risk significantly higher.
And, as a matter of fact, we don't know that it is safe for adults. We know only that it is safe short term for adults. We have no way of knowing that it is safe long term, and we don't have time to wait to find out. Routine screening x-rays (which my mother had), thalidomide, DES, are all now known to be dangerous - But based on short term tests believed to be perfectly safe.
They are doing precisely what they need to do, and have done a remarkably good job of testing these vaccines in a much more diverse population than usual. But kids are not, medically, just miniature adults - and their long term is heck of a lot longer than my long term.
Blue_Adept
(6,393 posts)There have been active test cycles going on since last year.
They work with smaller batches of people when it comes to kids because they need parental consent.
There are tighter regulations in working with children.
Finding the right dosage is what's critical.
But if you think people have taken a vacation over the concept of figuring out how to handle children getting vaccinated, you're as fucking looney as the people we see screaming about never getting the vaccine.
Do some actual research instead of weird panic cosplay posting here to figure out why it's going.
GPV
(72,377 posts)TDale313
(7,820 posts)Younger children are not just smaller adults. Their bodies can react very differently. They want to be as sure as possible before approving vaccines for younger children.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)How many kids have died as a result of dragging our feet?
Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)On children.
Not to mention an incredible legal risk. Children are not capable of giving informed consent, and there are serious legal questions as to whether a parent can waive a child's right to later sue the manufacturer for being used as a guinea pig.
obamanut2012
(26,041 posts)You NEVER do clinical tests like this on kids. It is illegal, unethical, and literally something Mengele would have done.
madaboutharry
(40,183 posts)At least that is what I have heard some doctors on television discuss.
luv2fly
(2,475 posts)They are in process... that's science.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)day 1: Clinical trials for adults.
Day 2 Clinical trials for children.
Instead we got
day 200: Oh yea. Hey we got all the old rich white mean vaxxined and safe....Maybe we should think about doing clinical trials for children?
If they had started both at the same time, or nearly the same time. A lot of kids would still be alive.
That's science.
luv2fly
(2,475 posts)... at least initially. That changed and trials started.
lapucelle
(18,187 posts)Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)I wish THEY were working on Pfizer, Moderna etc.
BadgerKid
(4,549 posts)And length of effectiveness. But yes, its a frustrating situation. Looks like the pre-kindergarten children will be last to be vaccinated.
LisaL
(44,972 posts)in young males.
So FDA wanted more extensive studies in younger children.
FarPoint
(12,276 posts)I may be impatient but I need to deal with acceptance...
bluestarone
(16,851 posts)Adults would start having fears as well. (thus stopping them from taking the shot)! I support how they did this. We just need to let the Drs. do their job! No second guessing here!
haele
(12,635 posts)But not until it is officially approved, which hopefully is sometime this week. Similar to flu shots for kids in that age group, the vaccine has to be prescribed by a doctor instead of just given out by a pharmacist.
Next week, Dog willing, the 5 and 9 year olds will be given their first shots...
The 9 year old is terrified of needles though. So I think we all will have to be there with her.
Haele
Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)Once full approval is granted, doctors are permitted to use any medication off-label as they see fit. There have already been discussions of using it off-lablel for children before approval for children is granted: https://providernews.seattlechildrens.org/exceptions-to-covid-19-vaccine-age-limitations/
Most medications are not approved for children, since testing of children raises lots of both ethical and legal concerns. So what happens is the medication is approved for use in adults, and doctors use it off label for children (and for other purposes). My daughter started on pentasa in 1995 when she was 5. It is not yet approved for children, despite the fact that she took it for 13 years as a child, and it is now 26 years later.
hamsterjill
(15,220 posts)As a lifelong needle phobe, which stems from a child hood thing, please give her all your support and care. These last 18 months have been horrible for those of us with that fear. Needles and pictures of needles everywhere. Constant triggers for anxiety. How she handles this now may very well set the pattern into her adult life.
Its not just a little sting for a lot of us.
Best of luck.
obamanut2012
(26,041 posts)That's what Mengele did. Please do not advocate for unethical, illegal, and dangerous clinical trials on children.
Also, link to proof it's safe for kids? Guess what, there is no proof. It literally doesn't exist, so please quit spreading disinformation saying it's safe for them.
Please advocate for masks instead of literal Naziesque trials.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)That sounds like something right is saying.
Actually. It's exactly what they are saying.
The vaccine is safe. Millions of people have proven it so.
Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)Educate yourself on the ethics of development of new medications. Educate yourself on the shameful history of medical trials on children and racial minorities.
What we know, so far, is that it is safe - in the short term - on adults. We don't know about the long term safety.
That makes it appropriate to start trials on children - under the circumstance in which we hope every single child will be vaccinated. For a less universally used drug, it would still be too soon for child trials.
Taking the vaccine, approved for emergency use, has absolutely no relation to atrocities committed by the Nazis - and no one here (aside from you) has suggested it does.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)I'm not the one who started up on the Nazi stuff. I just handed it back to whoever brought it up.
The Nazi talk is the stuff of the right wing and whoever upthread brought it up first. (it's not even worth looking it up as it was non-sense in, nonsense out)
However I would also suggest not suggesting that we don't know the long term affect on adults. That's what the right wing is saying and we know it's wrong.
Response to fescuerescue (Original post)
Iggo This message was self-deleted by its author.
Iggo
(47,534 posts)Good luck!
Have fun!
xmas74
(29,669 posts)Unsafe it would be to test on children and adults at the same time, special consideration for age, etc. I deleted it.
The premise is crazy. No one wants to put their f'n kid out there as a guinea pig for an experimental drug that mom and dad can't have yet. That's why they didn't test kids and adults at the same time.
Iggo
(47,534 posts)iemanja
(53,010 posts)among other things already pointed out in this thread.