Parents of toddlers: are you boosting your child?

November 3, 2023 10:27 AM

I know you are not my doctor etc., but I'm just curious to hear from other parents your thought process on whether you are choosing to give your child the updated covid vaccine this season.

My 3 year old has had his full series of Moderna shots (I think 2?) a while ago and now I'm weighing whether I want to give him the booster for this current strain. My husband and I just got our Novavax boosters so we are very pro-vaccine but I know that for young kids, covid isn't as much of a serious risk anymore and it seems that a lot of people, both adults and children, are just not getting their boosters anymore. Like, our parents are refusing to get the boosters this year for some reason even though they've all gotten them in the past. But yeah, just wondering if anyone has done this cost/benefit analysis and where you landed.

posted by Forty-eight to Health & Fitness (38 answers total)

Vaccines and boosters work, and despite the defunding and downplaying of COVID, it’s still a threat to both my children (3 and 1) as well as anyone they come into contact with who are immunocompromised. They are both boosted and will continue to get boosters (along with flu and other recommended boosts) as long as they are available. To me, there is no downside.
posted by knownassociate at 10:35 AM on November 3, 2023 [38 favorites]

and it seems that a lot of people, both adults and children, are just not getting their boosters anymore

This is not the metric I would use to make decisions (and it isn’t).

We will boost our 4.5-year-old in December; she caught a thankfully-mild case from preschool in September otherwise we would have done it already.

Instead of listening to anecdotes (or news media, or facebook, or non-physician acquaintances) I recommend reading Your Local Epidemiologist, who is both (duh) an epidemiologist and a parent of young children. She balances the factors you discuss (and talks about timing). The relevant post is probably this one.
posted by supercres at 10:36 AM on November 3, 2023 [20 favorites]

Yes.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 10:37 AM on November 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

Yes. Flu and covid. The cost is nothing and the benefit may be saving someone's life (not my child's likely, but maybe the life of someone who would have gotten 3 or 4 or 10 steps down the line from him).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:44 AM on November 3, 2023 [12 favorites]

COVID is the 8th leading cause of death among children in the United States.
posted by heatherlogan at 10:55 AM on November 3, 2023 [24 favorites]

Personally: As a middle-aged adult, I got the booster, but we're not planning to have our kids - who have had moderate reactions to past boosters - get them. We may do so if the caseload grows in the winter.

As most everyone in the US knows, the CDC recommends boosters for everyone 6 months or older.

However, the British National Health Service, following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, is providing boosters on the basis of age only to those aged 65+; younger people are eligible for boosters based on other criteria (health status, caring for older adults, etc.) The JCVI recommendation was based on a cost-effectiveness analysis, with an estimated cost per booster of £10.06.

For nonelderly people in good health who are already vaccinated, there are both costs and benefits to additional boosters, but both the costs and the benefits are relatively small. Therefore, reasonable people can make different decisions about whether to get another booster.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:57 AM on November 3, 2023

Undecided. Both my kids have flu shots, and my 3 year old had her first series and booster. She was fine with shots until recently and getting her flu shot was pretty traumatic (unfortunately she got moderna and pediatrician only has pfizer, so couldn't get the combo).

Our 1 year old hasn't gotten his primary series yet (for medical reasons had his 1-year vaccines delayed and then pediatrician recommended waiting since the update was about to come out, so he'll get it next time he's in).
posted by DoubleLune at 11:01 AM on November 3, 2023

COVID is the 8th leading cause of death among children in the United States.

And this is almost burying the lede. It's

fifth in disease-related causes of deaths (excluding unintentional injuries, assault, and suicide), and first in deaths caused by infectious or respiratory diseases [...] it caused substantially more deaths in CYP (children and young people) annually than any vaccine-preventable disease historically in the recent period before vaccines became available. Various factors, including underreporting and not accounting for COVID-19’s role as a contributing cause of death from other diseases, mean that these estimates may understate the true mortality burden of COVID-19.

posted by pullayup at 11:08 AM on November 3, 2023 [27 favorites]

Yes, we got our 3 year old both flu and COVID boosters. I'm not sure I can talk about decision-making because it wasn't a question for us. I don't consider myself to be particularly cautious about COVID anymore but the booster is strongly recommended by my local medical authorities. To me it's like, they tell me car seats are the safest place for my three year old, so I'm not out there becoming an expert in car crash physics. And I'm not becoming an expert immunologist either. The vaccines are safe, covered by insurance, and offer protection against covid infections and COVID deaths. Sounds good to me.
posted by muddgirl at 11:19 AM on November 3, 2023 [24 favorites]

More context from that article: "COVID-19 deaths were considered in 12-month periods between April 1, 2020, and August 31, 2022 ... There were 821 COVID-19 deaths among individuals aged 0 to 19 years during the study period, resulting in a crude death rate of 1.0 per 100 000 population overall; 4.3 per 100 000 for those younger than 1 year; 0.6 per 100 000 for those aged 1 to 4 years; 0.4 per 100 000 for those aged 5 to 9 years; 0.5 per 100 000 for those aged 10 to 14 years; and 1.8 per 100 000 for those aged 15 to 19 years."

The article does not say how many deaths were among unvaccinated children, or those who had preexisting medical conditions, but does note that Covid "caused substantially more deaths in CYP annually than any vaccine-preventable [emphasis added] disease historically in the recent period before vaccines became available."

Vaccines absolutely work; if you haven't gotten your child vaccinated, do it NOW. But that article does not provide any information about the benefits of an additional booster today.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 11:23 AM on November 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

We boosted our daughter (about to turn 1) on Monday, once our county health department finally got the Moderna shots in stock. She received her first series in May and June, and we had been checking each week for Moderna to become available. She also had her flu shot as soon as her pediatrician had those.

This was the least symptomatic of the covid shots for her. The first series made her very sleepy, but she was mostly her usual self after this one.

Like others have said, I don't see a downside to vaccinating her, only an upside for her and the rest of society. It shocked me in the spring to read the stats on how few of those under the age of five had been vaccinated.
posted by icaicaer at 11:24 AM on November 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yes, I boosted my two-year-old in early October. My only thought process was “when can I get an appointment?” As others have mentioned, for us I saw very little cost, and plenty of potential benefit, for my kid, my family, and wider society.
posted by rabbits plinkety plinkety plink at 11:29 AM on November 3, 2023 [6 favorites]

My kids are adults now but I can unequivocally say that if they were still under my care I would have them fully vaccinated, including the new booster*. Not only is it better for them, it's better for society in general. No brainer, for me.

*not so incidentally, they both are currently fully vaccinated including the new booster
posted by cooker girl at 11:40 AM on November 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

So as not to abuse the edit window: I know and trust several epidemiologists. They all say get the new booster, especially by now (preferably before Halloween). I listened to them.
posted by cooker girl at 11:42 AM on November 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

it seems that a lot of people, both adults and children, are just not getting their boosters anymore.

For us, it’s because it’s been a complete train wreck this time around to get the booster for my son. Sounds like there were supply issues, or logistics issues, plus miscommunication, but my son will be getting his booster next week and that’s about as early as we were able to get in.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:14 PM on November 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

For us, it’s because it’s been a complete train wreck this time around to get the booster for my son.

Man this is super real. I was surprised by how hard it was to get my covid shot this year (I just went this morning) compared with the flu shot. My doctor's office doesn't have it. Multiple CVSs gave me the runaround. Finally I got it at the second Walgreens I tried. I've got to imagine that people who are less motivated than me would've just said screw it about three pharmacies ago. Friends with kids are having even more difficulty finding shots. Idk what's going on.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 12:17 PM on November 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

Yes. She got it from her paediatrician at a recent well-child visit.
posted by sizeable beetle at 12:33 PM on November 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yes. Covid and flu at the pediatrician's vaccine clinic for my 3 year old a couple of weeks ago. My spouse and I got our vaccines, too.
posted by carrioncomfort at 1:12 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yes without hesitation. My 2.5 year old got her booster a couple of weeks ago alongside her flu shot.
posted by rodneyaug at 1:12 PM on November 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yes. My kiddo missed the window to get the last updated booster last fall because it wasn't approved for kids yet. We were traveling, so she got boosted with the older version. (She ended up with a mild case of Covid right at the beginning of the school year that actually caused us to miss another much-anticipated trip.) She is nearing the tail-end of her three-ish months of naturally acquired immunity, so the timing works in our favor this go-round.

Until there comes a point when the science shows that the harm outweighs the benefits, we plan to take all covid vaccines on offer. We vaccinate for flu, too, so we just consider this to be in the same category of prepping for cold and flu season. (I kind of wish we could get boosted in July as well—we always have a spike then, and this time all three of us got caught up in it. My husband and I had managed to avoid it until then.)
posted by timestep at 2:17 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

EDIT: I just realized this was for parents of toddlers, and my kiddo is an older elementary student. My reasoning would still apply even if she were younger.
posted by timestep at 2:18 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Was fully planning to and looking at booking it recently, but then we all got covid. I haven't had a chance yet to verify the official recommendations in that case, but I'm guessing it's to delay some amount of time and then get it, so we'll likely do that, plus the flu shot when we can. I wish we'd been able to get the booster earlier, but access has been an issue.

My reasoning isn't any more complicated than following the local public health recommendations, plus knowing that all approved vaccines I'm aware of have a pretty great risk-reward ratio.
posted by randomnity at 2:28 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

As a child care provider (don't know if you kid is in preschool or not), but I wish my parents would get the kids their shots.
posted by kathrynm at 3:52 PM on November 3, 2023 [6 favorites]

Yeah, caseloads in my region of the world (central canada) are quite high. We jabbed our toddler with Covid and Flu shot last week. Three cheers for novocaine cream and lollipops.
posted by stray at 4:05 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

My kid is 6, and I got him the flu and covid booster already. I understand that his risk is relatively low, but I also want him to be boosted to help protect his grandparents, who we see frequently.
posted by ice-cream forever at 5:31 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

The three-year-old grandchild has gotten his COVID and flu boosters. He just started preschool and promptly got two colds back-to-back, and ended up in the ER briefly from that, so his parents aren't playing games with COVID or the flu.

My brother, who masks religiously, came into the country to visit family when my dad died in September. He gave COVID to my sister and may have given it to friends who put him up (they were exposed by others as well), though luckily he tested before his planned visit to me and I told him not to come. He's currently dealing with a house guest who arrived with COVID. It's everywhere.
posted by Peach at 6:58 PM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you have infants, or your toddler is otherwise near infants, I’d urge you to do this. I believe Covid is still fairly dangerous for the very youngest. I imagine some of this is that the big change with omicron was not that it was inherently milder (I think it was but only a little) but that most everyone has been exposed one way or another by now. The littlest don’t have that advantage. I know this isn’t great at preventing symptomatic illness or spreading, but every little bit helps, and there are no other bits anymore.
posted by eirias at 7:53 PM on November 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

However, the British National Health Service, following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, is providing boosters on the basis of age only to those aged 65+; younger people are eligible for boosters based on other criteria (health status, caring for older adults, etc.) The JCVI recommendation was based on a cost-effectiveness analysis, with an estimated cost per booster of £10.06.

Britain also doesn't do flu shots for under-65s. The US does. Make of that what you will, but it doesn't make sense to pick one country's system for COVID boosters and the other for flu.
posted by hoyland at 8:18 PM on November 3, 2023 [7 favorites]

A thousand times yes. We got covid (for the second time) in the house early last month before the latest pediatric boosters were available here. Adults got sicker than the two kids (preK and school age), but I got it last and was isolated for nineteen days total, half of them while taking care of cranky isolated kids while we tried to WFH. And my medically-vulnerable mother also picked it up at the same time, apparently not from us, so we were also running logistics around that.

Even a chance of avoiding yet another round of this is worth the fuss of adding a jab to the kids' schedules. There is very little risk of downside and a lot of upside.
posted by LadyInWaiting at 7:00 AM on November 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

However, the British National Health Service, following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, is providing boosters on the basis of age only to those aged 65+; younger people are eligible for boosters based on other criteria (health status, caring for older adults, etc.) The JCVI recommendation was based on a cost-effectiveness analysis, with an estimated cost per booster of £10.06.

NHS was also facing a £7b shortfall this year (in addition to £14b in cost-cutting it already was having to do by next year) because the budget was set while inflation was 2% and the British Treasury basically said “too bad inflation went up, find the money yourself.” So holding that up as a paragon of what one should actually do based on the health evidence is a fundamentally flawed approach.
posted by tubedogg at 10:26 AM on November 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

However, the British National Health Service, following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, is providing boosters on the basis of age only to those aged 65+; younger people are eligible for boosters based on other criteria (health status, caring for older adults, etc.)

The British covid response is currently being investigated for being inadequate amongst other things, so I would not use it as a positive example.

France are recommending the booster to everyone.
posted by ellieBOA at 10:54 AM on November 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

If you can find someone who has the young-child doses to administer, why wouldn't you? Honest question. I understand in some places they're hard to find, but if not, even if you're uninsured it would be worth a fair bit of cash to me to not have my preschooler bring covid home from school.

My 4yo got her covid booster a couple weeks ago.
posted by potrzebie at 7:44 PM on November 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

As someone related to teachers of children, though who does not have children myself, I certainly appreciate the families that do keep their kids’ boosters up-to-date, since that secondarily impacts me and directly impacts people I care about.
posted by eviemath at 4:49 AM on November 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

What’s the downside? We got our kiddos (3+7) boosted. Wasn’t the most fun way to spend an afternoon but none of us have gotten it yet (as far as we know) and would like to continue that streak.
posted by kat518 at 5:28 AM on November 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Literally why would you not?
posted by anotherthink at 8:47 AM on November 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yes. My 3 year old got their flu shot from their pediatrician two weeks ago, and gets their covid booster from Walgreens this week. We have spent the last two months passing around every cold from preschool and beyond, I don't need something I can prevent.
posted by jessica fletcher did it at 8:36 AM on November 6, 2023

Literally why would you not?

Because "regularly reimmunizing young and healthy Americans is a waste of resources ... and invites unnecessary exposure to the shots’ rare but nontrivial side effects. If they’ve already received two or three doses of a COVID vaccine, as is the case for most, they can stop."

That's just the opinion of a guy who "is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a member of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and a member of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices."

Now, the quotation comes from an article that concludes that he is wrong; many thoughtful, well-meaning, and highly informed professionals think everyone should get a shot. But it's not a slam-dunk either way.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:20 PM on November 6, 2023

We got our five year old boosted. If the kiddo is better protected, that means we're better protected, can feel better about taking him around our elderly parents and so on.
posted by Atreides at 1:06 PM on November 9, 2023