SWFL pediatrician answers your questions about COVID-19 vaccines for young children

Golisano Children’s Hospital is hosting a COVID-19 vaccination event for children Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon, so parents can protect their kids 5 and older. Since parents have many questions, WINK News brought some to Dr. Stephanie Stovall, a Golisano pediatrician.

What are the short-term effects for kids getting the shot?

“Most kids are not having any side effects. The most common ones are soreness of the arm. Some kids in the studies did have some fever, and some shakiness, kind of like adults who have been vaccinated had. But when they compare the incidence of short-term adverse effects in children, 5 to 11, compared to older population, 16 to 25, the incidence of adverse effects was actually significantly lower.”

What about any myocardial issues that could develop because of the vaccine?

“We can say that, when we look at myocardial symptoms of COVID[-19], they are more common in the older population, so they may not be as common in the younger population with vaccine, either. But I think it’s too soon to know that from a vaccine perspective; the fortunate thing about vaccine-associated myocardial inflammation is that these patients reverse that inflammation very quickly. Most of them do not require hospitalization, certainly not prolonged hospitalization.”

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