MURFREESBORO, Tennessee (WKRN) — Murfreesboro Medical Clinic Pediatrics started a waiting list for parents who want to get the COVID-19 vaccine for younger children. People are already going online to sign up, as the clinic hopes to have the recordings available next week.
“There are a few steps. It has to be approved by the ACIP, CDC and then the Tennessee Department of Health, so we’re waiting for that final approval to get it. We have already placed an order for it and the health department has approved our order,” said pediatrician Dr. Amanda Gammel. “As soon as the Tennessee Department of Health says we’re ready to go, they’ll ship it to us. And we usually have it at home the next day. So we hope we have it in the office and ready to give it next week.”
She said that once they know the injections have been sent, they will turn the waiting list into appointments and contact parents to have their children vaccinated. They are taking lessons in logistics from the adult COVID-19 vaccine rollout to that for younger children.
“All the paperwork and everything ready to go so we can get as many kids in and out as we can, and then also have that waiting time where we kind of keep an eye on them and we have room for them,” she said. “It really is a lot of logistics. But our adult vaccination clinic felt very seamless. And so we hope that the vaccine clinic for the children will be too.”
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She hopes the vaccine for younger children will help prevent another surge in COVID-19 cases, as witnessed earlier this year. dr. Gammel said that while children don’t tend to get really sick from COVID, there are about 1% who end up needing hospitalization or having long-term effects like COVID or inflammation of the heart muscles.
“We know that because their symptoms are so mild, sometimes kids can have COVID or very often they can have COVID, and we don’t really know, and then they can spread it to their older siblings, their parents, their grandparents explained Dr. Old out. “So getting them vaccinated would reduce the chances of them getting COVID, which reduces the chances of them being contagious and exposing it to those family members or other vulnerable people in the community.”
During the wave of cases of the delta variant as students returned to school this year, Dr. It’s rickety that they had an average of 500-600 children a day in their clinic.
“We actually had to turn people away because we didn’t have enough time or staff to see everyone, we had to shut down our walk-in a few times because the waiting room was just too full. The percentage was about 20 to 25% positivity at one point, which was just huge,” said Dr. Gammel. increases that will overwhelm the medical system.”
She thinks more parents will be willing to get the vaccine for their children after seeing its success in teens and adults.
“I’ll say more and more, I’m starting to get the question of ‘do you personally recommend it?’ where I think with the older group, it was more like, ‘is it safe? I’m not sure I trust it.’ And now I feel like the parents are starting to feel a little more comfortable with it. And that their main question is, ‘What do you recommend? Do you recommend this for your children?’ said Dr. game. “And that’s what I told them: As you know, I’m going to get it for my kids as soon as it’s available, and so I wouldn’t recommend anything to their kids that I wouldn’t do for my own.”
She said she expects fewer side effects from the injections for younger children, as she has noticed that even teenagers have had fewer side effects compared to adults who receive the vaccine. She adds that this may be because children are more exposed to viruses and more used to getting vaccines than adults. dr. Gammel said parents should watch to see if their child has a higher fever after getting the vaccine and it isn’t lowered by drugs like Tylenol or Motrin for children.
“I would say that most, if not all, pediatricians recommend it. I would simply encourage parents if they are concerned or hesitant to talk to their pediatrician about those concerns. There are many things on the internet and I have always discouraged parents to google or read anything on social media,” said Dr. Gammel. “If you have any questions, that’s what we’re here for. Call your pediatrician, talk to him during your child’s checkup and just ask questions, hesitations and any concerns .
You are advised to check with your child’s pediatrician to see when their office will administer the vaccine. This weekend, CVS and Walgreens will begin vaccinating children and are already making arrangements. Metro public health will start giving the injections to younger children from Monday. Children ages 5 to 11 can receive the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine at several Metro Nashville schools starting Monday.
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