As parents, we want to safeguard our children from all of life’s perils. Last year, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic sent parents reeling and searching for ways to protect their children. School closings, social distancing and quarantining became the daily norm, but we all knew that it would be impossible to sustain them long-term.

Kids need to be out and about. With the pandemic looking like it’s going to be a long-term part of our lives, parents are continuing to look for ways that their children can traverse society again while being safe. Consequently, they’ve had to make hard decisions.

Recently, the FDA approved administering COVID-19 vaccines to children ages 5-11 years, something previously unavailable. Once again, parents have to wade through information, hear arguments for and against vaccination, and decide if it is the right thing for their children. Where is my headache medicine?

Fortunately for The Haute Take readers, Dr. Arshia Qaadir, M.D. FAAP, a pediatrician and a board member of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Virginia, took time from her busy schedule to answer important questions about the vaccine for parents. Why is the vaccine age-based? Are the ingredients halal? What about the side effects, like myocarditis? Whatever you’re wondering, Insha’Allah it’s covered below.

Currently, the COVID-19 vaccine available for ages 5-11 years is from Pfizer-BioTech. It is similar to the adult vaccine in the spacing of booster dosing (21 days) but the dose is much smaller. Moderna has some promising preliminary data for a vaccine in the future for ages 6-11 years as well.

Children are not little adults, but rather their bodies have unique physiologic and immunologic properties that differ by age. The smaller doses were tested for their safety, immune response and tolerability in younger children. The immune response in our bodies often decreases with age, and so a much smaller dose is needed to generate an adequate and safe response in younger children.

This is the same concept when we administer the Flu vaccine – the dose varies by the child’s age to some degree.There are studies being conducted on a 3mcg dose for children under age five years as well.

The COVID-19 vaccine for children was subject to the same rigorous research and multi-step safety and approval process as the adult version and other vaccines. The study process included approximately 3,100 children ages 5 through 11 years.

The readily available Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not contain any animal protein, gelatin or egg product. You can be assured that there is consensus on the importance and halal nature of these vaccines, as concluded in the Joint Statement from the National Muslim Task Force on COVID-19

Is it as safe as the adult vaccine or safer?

Yes. As mentioned, the COVID-19 vaccine for children has gone through the same multi-step safety and approval process as the adult vaccine.

It is also safe to give your child both the Covid-19 vaccine and Flu vaccine together. This often saves time, multiple “ouch” visits to the doctor, and does not produce any worsening of side effects. We routinely give multiple, combination vaccinations to small children and they do very well.

Side effects may appear more commonly after the booster dose, including mild redness and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle and/or joint pain, chills, fever and decreased appetite. These usually self-resolve within 1-2 days.

All of these are symptoms we may see after any vaccination and a sign that your child’s immune system is responding well to the vaccine. In other words, the body is developing a robust response to fighting off the actual virus if exposed in the future.

Let’s talk about myocarditis. Myocarditis is an inflammation of heart tissue that can cause chest pain and shortness of breath. It is often transient and usually occurs after some infectious cause. Very rarely, it can be triggered by a vaccine. Still scary, I know! But let’s put this in perspective in relation to how often this happens, and in relation to COVID-19 more generally.

In the trials of children ages 12-19, there were a small number of mild cases of myocarditis – mostly in young adult males above the age of 16 years – that typically self-resolved within a week.

In the trials of more than 3,000 children ages 5-11 years, there were NO cases of myocarditis reported from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Now let’s contrast this with the risk related to getting Covid-19. We are living in a situation where we have not achieved herd immunity, and the presence of variants such as Delta are highly contagious and lethal. To date: More than six million children have contracted Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. More than 700 children have died.

And, the risk of children getting myocarditis in a recent study was found to be almost 40 times higher in children who had been infected with Covid-19. This may also be related to the very serious complication of multisystem inflammatory syndrome that can cause death.

In other words, your child’s risk of getting a severe illness or myocarditis is actually much higher from contracting COVID-19 itself than from the vaccine.

While it is true that the numbers are less in children than in adults, I would argue that even one death is one too many. And when it is your own child that is in the hospital, numbers don’t matter. Several hundred children have already died nationwide since the onset of the pandemic. In Virginia, just last month, two children died in one week. We want to reduce the risk of illness in our own children and in others so we can all go back to a more safe and healthy society.

This would depend on your region, but yes, many drug stores are offering the vaccine as it becomes available for children. Regional vaccine sites and pediatric offices are also vaccinating as the inventory becomes available. Check with your pediatrician as to the best options near you.

Every parent wants to do what is best for their child’s health and safety; it’s a natural, protective instinct. Hesitancy over vaccination is not a new concern, and many parents feel intuitively that they are better off avoiding putting things into their children’s bodies that are uncertain to them – when you put it that way, it’s understandable. But I would also caution parents to think about the fact that there is much we do know now.

After living with this pandemic for two years, we now have an abundance of scientific evidence over the span of this time that shows us not only how effective and safe these vaccines are, but also what the real consequences are of COVID-19 in children, including severe illness leading to ICU admissions, death and “long-COVID” syndrome affecting kids with even mild disease for months afterward.

The physical consequences of COVID-19 are just one aspect of how this pandemic is affecting children. We want children to thrive and return to normal, healthy activities with others in a society without the risk of spreading or contracting the illness. We’ve been given a great gift of a vaccine that will protect our children in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic. Let us put trust in science, our faith, and be grateful for this immense blessing!”

"There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its remedy." [Sahih Al-Bukhari, book 71, Hadith 582]