BOISE, Idaho — Medical experts anticipate the FDA to grant Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to children ages 12-15.
Some parents have their minds made up, that a COVID vaccine won’t come near their children.
“It just seemed like it came way too fast, I mean we literally just hit a year since we’ve been in lockdown,” said David Phillips, a father of two girls, one aged 8 and the other 12. “We don't have any health conditions, anything that would make us considered high risk and I’m just a little weary of putting something into my body or my families' bodies that doesn't seem to be very well tested.”
Phillips said that he’s also concerned about the potential side effects the vaccine could have on his daughter, short and long term.
“That’s the scary part for me is, we are learning about the side effects as we are rolling this out.”
Kyle Christ is a father of three and has similar beliefs. Two of his children are over 12 and Christ is choosing to not to vaccinate his children when Pfizer is expected to release a vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds sometime next week.
“It’s really important that there’s a lot of data and showing how safe the vaccine really is and that just simply comes over time,” Christ said.
Christ said many members of his family were already infected with COVID.
“We’ve just chose that we are going to fight this through regular immunity, we have already gone through this, we have already had it,” said Christ “Our health is generally our responsibility, not the FDA's responsibility.”
Christ and Phillips said that potential of side effects, lack of data and the quick rollout of the vaccine is enough for them to pass on the vaccine for them and their children.
According to Brad Bigford, owner and nurse practitioner at Table Rock Medicine, the data actually is there. Bigford noted that other than the bureaucratic or what he called "paperwork steps" that go into rolling out a vaccine, nothing else was sped up during the process.
“The things that were not rushed, were the manufacturing of the vaccine, the tests in these first, second and third trials, those were not rushed at all, we know this vaccine is very safe,” said Bigford. “It has an incredible safety profile.”
Bigford said when it comes to the COVID 19 vaccine it shouldn't be about beliefs but about separating myths from facts.
“I’m a father and this is something that I believe in and it’s not even about beliefs, it's about the evidence,” he said. “Don’t use the comment section on Facebook."
One thing we know for sure is that getting vaccinated is a choice.
“Everybody can do what they wish with their own bodies but when it comes to my family, I'm choosing not to,” said Phillips.
For questions or concerns about COVID vaccines, Bigford recommends individuals reach out to medical professional or a family doctor for accurate information.
Join 'The 208' conversation:
- Text us at (208) 321-5614
- E-mail us at the208@ktvb.com
- Join our The 208 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/the208KTVB/
- Follow us on Twitter: @the208KTVB or tweet #the208 and #SoIdaho
- Follow us on Instagram: @the208KTVB
- Bookmark our landing page: /the-208
- And we also turn each episode into a podcast on Podbean
- Still reading this list? We're on YouTube, too: