The CDC Pushes to Vaccinate Toddlers, Again

Its decision to include Covid-19 shots in children’s schedules is based on far-too-flimsy evidence.

By Allysia Finley of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf stressed that the CDC isn’t mandating vaccines for kids. “Mandates are not the remit of either CDC or FDA,” he tweeted on Oct. 19. Didn’t the CDC argue the opposite in court when defending its mask requirement for public transportation?  

It’s true that states and localities don’t have to follow the CDC’s recommendations when deciding which shots kids must receive to attend daycare and school, but they usually do."

"It’s generally accepted that kids are at much lower risk for severe Covid than adults. One study, released earlier this month, estimated that only 3 of every million kids who have been infected with Covid have died from it. Children also are much less likely to get severely sick with Covid than with some other bugs.

In Moderna’s toddler trial, no child in either the placebo or vaccine group was hospitalized with Covid, but at least 15 were for other infections including RSV, adenovirus, rhinovirus, metapneumovirus and Epstein-Barr. The two toddlers in Pfizer’s trial who were most severely ill with Covid also tested positive for other viruses, which probably exacerbated their infections.

The FDA authorized the vaccines for children primarily based on an “immunogenicity” analysis comparing their antibody levels with those of adults who received the shots. But antibodies are only one component of immunity, and the immune systems of children and adults differ in important ways. Children have stronger “innate” immune responses, which essentially carpet-bomb germs. On the other hand, children’s adaptive immunity, which operates more like tactical-weapon systems, is less developed. Children may not require the same level of antibodies to achieve the same protection as adults."

"the trials on children were too small to draw conclusions."

"some children who were vaccinated in the trials did suffer worse symptoms. About 0.8% of adolescents who received the Pfizer vaccines developed swollen lymph nodes—four times the rate in the placebo group."

"A New England Journal of Medicine write-up on the Pfizer trial, however, reported “there were no vaccine-related serious adverse events and few overall severe adverse events.”"