Just 18% of parents with children under five years old want them vaccinated against covid

Only a small minority of parents with children less than five years old would vaccinate them against Covid, a survey has found — as many scientists doubt shots are needed for the age group.

Just 18 percent of those questioned said they would ‘definitely’ get their child two doses of the vaccine if it was approved for use in the age group.

For comparison, almost two in five parents said they would refuse to get their child inoculated or only do so if it was required.

More than 1,800 parents took part in the survey by health pollster the Kaiser Family Foundation, including 181 with children younger than five years.

It comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers approving Moderna’s jab for children aged six months to five years. Pfizer is also expected to apply for its shot to be used in the age group later this month.

Many scientists have raised concerns over vaccinating children, however, because they face only a small risk of serious illness from the disease.

Many scientists have raised concerns over vaccinating the youngest children, saying they already face a vanishingly low risk of severe disease and death if they catch the virus (stock)

Many scientists have raised concerns over vaccinating the youngest children, saying they already face a vanishingly low risk of severe disease and death if they catch the virus (stock)

Pressure has been mounting on the FDA to approve Covid vaccines for the youngest children from parts of the left-wing media.

Just last week the New York Times ran a story claiming their failure to approve the jabs for under-5s had ‘bred frustration’ among many parents.

But today’s survey reveals that the vast majority of parents, in fact, do not plan to get their children inoculated against the pandemic virus.

Covid booster shots might not be needed every year, experts say 

Covid booster vaccines might not be needed every year because protection against severe infection is holding up ‘pretty well,’ top scientists say.

Dr. Paul Offit, from the FDA’s jabs advisory panel, warned last week that the U.S. was in danger of sleep-walking into an annual Covid vaccination drive, like with the flu, without considering whether the top-up shots were actually needed.

Other top scientists also raised concerns over boosters, saying the added doses would likely only give limited protection against infection with the virus.

He told Stat News at a recent FDA panel meeting ‘the only question was what were we going to boost with, not whether we were going to boost’.

He added: ‘We didn’t define what the goal of this extra shot was.’

Dr John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, also called for officials to re-consider, saying protection against severe disease was holding up ‘pretty well’.

Most parents — 38 percent — said they planned to wait until other children had got the vaccine, before deciding whether to take their own for the vaccine.

Some 11 percent warned they would not take their child for the vaccine unless it was required by their state.

But a total of 27 percent said they would not get a child less than five years old the vaccine under any circumstances.

The survey was carried out between April 13 and 26, which was before Moderna applied to have its jab approved for use in the age group.

There has been pressure to get Covid vaccines approved for even the youngest children.

But a number of experts have raised concerns over vaccinating children, who face a small risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid and a vanishingly small chance of death.

There are also fears over myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation detected in about one in 20,000 boys following vaccination. Girls are less at risk from the complication.

While in most cases the condition is mild, scientists are not yet sure of the long-term effects.

Earlier this year vaccines expert Dr Michael Kurilla, who is also a director at the National Institutes of Health, was one of its few members to refuse to approve jabs for kids five to 11 years old.

He told DailyMail.com at the time that while he thinks children with certain conditions that put them at a high risk should receive the shot, it was not clear if they should be approved for healthy children.

Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is already available for everyone more than five years old.

But CDC statistics show just over 28 percent of five to 11-year-olds have got the shot to date. Among 12 to 17-year-olds, almost 60 percent are now fully vaccinated.

For comparison, nationally about three in four Americans have now got two Covid vaccines and almost 50 percent have got a booster.

The above graph shows the proportion of 5 to 11-year-olds, which can get Pfizer's vaccine, which have got one or two doses of the vaccine. It is currently up to 28 per cent being double-jabbed, despite the shots being available to the age group since October

The above graph shows the proportion of 5 to 11-year-olds, which can get Pfizer’s vaccine, which have got one or two doses of the vaccine. It is currently up to 28 per cent being double-jabbed, despite the shots being available to the age group since October

The above graph shows the proportion of 12 to 17-year-olds that have got a booster jab against Covid. It is just under a quarter, at 24.5 per cent

The above graph shows the proportion of 12 to 17-year-olds that have got a booster jab against Covid. It is just under a quarter, at 24.5 per cent

Last week Moderna applied to the FDA for its vaccine to be approved for use in children from six months to five years old.

Its chief medical officer Paul Burton claimed at the time that the group represented an ‘unmet medical need’.

But national surveillance suggests up to three in four children in this age group already have protection against Covid from past infection.

They are also at vanishingly low risk of death, with a total of 1,017 dying from Covid since March 2020, official data shows — accounting for around 0.01 per cent of America’s almost a million deaths from the virus. 

For comparison, among people aged 65 and over the death toll is 724million. 

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk