Loyola Medicine Pediatric Experts Available to Discuss Possible Approval of COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Under 5

MAYWOOD, IL – Panels from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are meeting this week to consider authorizing COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of 5 from both Pfizer and Moderna. The possible approval comes after multiple studies on the vaccine’s effect on the pediatric population and observing the vaccine’s performance in adults and older children. Loyola Medicine pediatric and infectious disease experts are available to discuss the vaccine and any concerns that parents might have about its safety and efficacy.

“Based on the adults and teenagers who have been vaccinated, we know that the COVID vaccine is safe,” said Jerold Stirling, MD, chair of pediatrics at Loyola University Medical Center. “The FDA and CDC waited a long time, and were very cautious. They worked quite a bit on testing different doses and are not seeing inflammation of the heart or other significant side effects.”

During the omicron surge from January through April, hospitalization rates increased rapidly among infants and children aged 0-4 years, a group that was not eligible for vaccination, said Ban Al Sayyed, MD, Loyola Medicine’s division director of pediatric infectious disease. Most of admitted children presented with critical respiratory illnesses that required oxygen or with MIS-C, which is a systemic inflammatory response to COVID-19 infection in children. These kids were critically ill with low blood pressure and some had myocarditis (inflammation of the cardiac muscle). “No parent wants to see his child in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with severe manifestations of COVID-19 infection,” said Dr. Al-Sayyed, who added that if the vaccine is authorized for children and 5, “we can avoid the most severe presentation of the virus.”

If the vaccine is approved and parents are concerned about getting the vaccine for their children, Dr. Stirling urges parents to talk to their pediatrician. “We want to hear their concerns. We want to be able to provide education and talk about the risks and benefits with them.”

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About Loyola Medicine

Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago’s western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from more than 1,500 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. Loyola is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois’s largest burn center, a certified comprehensive stroke center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Established in 1961, Gottlieb is a 247-licensed-bed community hospital in Melrose Park with the Judd A. Weinberg Emergency Department, the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research Facility at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center. MacNeal is a 374-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Berwyn with advanced medical, surgical and psychiatric services, acute rehabilitation, an inpatient skilled nursing facility and a 68-bed behavioral health program and community clinics.

For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About Trinity Health

Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, Catholic health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 115,000 colleagues and nearly 26,000 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 25 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 88 hospitals, 131 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 125 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. Based in Livonia, Michigan, its annual operating revenue is $20.2 billion with $1.2 billion returned to its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs.

For more information, visit www.trinity-health.org or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.