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Michigan’s top children’s hospital answering parents question about the vaccine

This story appeared in ABC 12. Read more here

“Were these vaccines developed too fast? How do we know there’s not going to be long term side effects in our children?”

That’s just one of the many questions parents are asking Michigan’s #1 children’s hospital on Friday.

A panel of medical experts with C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital got together to answer parents top questions about kids and COVID-19 vaccines.

Questions ranging from when the vaccines will be available for kids under 12, allergic reactions to long term side effects.

“We know historically from all the other vaccines that we use that if you’re going to have some sort of reaction or side effect, it’ll happen in that first kind of period of weeks after your vaccine. So I know people are concerned about long term effects, but it just doesn’t make sense biologically. If there is going to be a side effect, we would have generally seen it by now,” said Dr. Elizabeth Chenowth Lloyd.

Lloyd is a doctor who specializes in Pediatric Infectious Disease she says the only people who shouldn’t get the vaccine are those who have a severe known allergy to a component in the vaccine.

“A lot of the time there’s questions of, if my child has this, should they get the vaccine and most of the time the answer is you should probably consider it even more because they may be more at risk of severe disease from COVID,” said Lloyd.

Andrea Bell a Michigan mom also chiming in whose 1-year-old almost lost her life to COVID-19 now urging parents to get their kids vaccinated when it becomes available.

“I have watched it happen to my daughter and, you know, I’m grateful to still be sitting here with my baby monitor watching my daughter sleep because I came this close to losing that part of my reality and begging people to take vaccine seriously is now a part of my narrative because of what happened to my family.”

Back in April Andrea Bell’s daughter Fiona caught COVID-19.

Fiona and Andrea spent a month in isolation in the Pediatric ICU at Mott Children’s Hospital.

While it was a traumatic experience for Fiona and her family Andrea is now sharing their story in hopes to inspire parents to get the vaccination for their kids when it becomes available.

“I don’t want to see other families go through what we went through, and if, if it’s as simple as vaccinating your kids to avoid the nightmare that we lived through and thankfully came out with my daughter alive. Just vaccinate your children,” she said.

As of right now children under the age of 12 are not able to receive the vaccine.

The doctors at Children’s Mott hospital says they are hopeful more data will be available about vaccines in children under 12 by October.

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You’ve got questions. That’s a good thing.

As parents, determining how best to protect our children can be overwhelming and confusing. We’re here to help.

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I Vaccinate provides information and tools based on real medical science and research to help Michigan parents protect their kids. Support is provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Franny Strong Foundation.

You’ve got questions. That’s a good thing.

As parents, determining how best to protect our children can be overwhelming and confusing. We’re here to help.

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