June 6, 2023Updated: June 6, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)
A first-of-its-kind study found no serious side effects from COVID vaccines in young children, according to research from Kaiser Permanente released Tuesday.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, reviewed records of more than 245,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines given mostly to children age 4 or younger between June 2022 and March 2023.
Scientists from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research partnered with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look for 23 potential side effects from the vaccines, including blood clots, seizures, stroke and brain inflammation.
They turned up no evidence of safety risks from any of the side effects in the study.
“These results can give reassurance to parents that these vaccines continue to be heavily scrutinized and are safe for their children,” Kristin Goddard, a research project manager at Kaiser’s Vaccine Study Center and the lead author of the study, told The Chronicle in an email.
Two findings in the study were particularly notable.
First, the researchers found no sign of seizures after vaccination, which on very rare occasions can occur after routine immunizations in children under 2 years old, according to a press release from Kaiser.
The study also showed no indication of myocarditis, a rare but serious inflammation of the heart that had appeared infrequently as a side effect of COVID vaccination, mostly in boys and young men.
“While we have rarely seen myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in adolescents, parents and clinicians have had concerns that myocarditis could be seen after vaccination in the youngest children,” Goddard said. “In this study, there was no evidence of myocarditis occurring among younger ages.”
The study was the first to look for serious side effects from mRNA vaccines in young children, Kaiser said in a press release Tuesday.
Researchers examined records from 135,005 doses of the Pfizer vaccine given to children between 6 months and 4 years old, and 112,006 doses of the Moderna vaccine given to children between 6 months and 5 years old.
The data came via the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink from health care systems in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The federal Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for use in children as young as 6 months last June, but vaccination rates among that age group remain very low.
Less than 5% of children 6 months to 4 years old are fully vaccinated, according to the latest CDC data, which runs through April 29.
Among kids 5 to 11, that number jumps to 29%.
“Vaccinating children against COVID-19 can benefit them directly by reducing the length and severity of disease, and mitigating the small but real risk of serious illness,” Goddard said.
“Additionally, vaccinating children provides important protection to the people around them by decreasing the spread of the virus — which can provide caregivers greater confidence in children participating in child care, school and other activities safely.”
Reach Gabe Castro-Root: Gabe.Castro-Root@sfchronicle.com
Written By Gabe Castro-Root
Gabe Castro-Root joined The Chronicle as a summer reporting intern in 2023. A junior at American University in Washington, D.C., he is the local news editor for his college paper, The Eagle, and interned last summer at The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. Castro-Root grew up in San Francisco and during high school wrote for The Noe Valley Voice, his neighborhood paper.
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