Reuters
By Joseph Ax and Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – In an ideal world, Leah Smithers said she could afford to wait for longer-term testing of the COVID-19 vaccines before getting the jab for her 10-year-old son.
But with his juvenile diabetes putting him at greater risk of complications if he contracts the virus – and with so much of his young life already shaped by the pandemic – she is ready for him to receive the vaccine as soon as he is eligible.
“I’m a parent who is concerned about the food I put in their bodies, about anything I put in their bodies,” said Smithers, 43, who lives in the San Francisco suburb of Albany and has two other children, ages 13 and 4. “But this seems like the best choice to keep him safe.”
Monday’s announcement from Pfizer and BioNTech that a low dose of their coronavirus vaccine proved safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11 in a clinical trial has come as a relief to many parents anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their children… Read More