Parents get answers about children and the COVID-19 vaccine

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - When you have questions how easy is it to get answers straight from your doctor? We gave a number of parents the chance to skip having to go through an assistant to take a message and gave them direct access to UAB Dr. Candice Dye, from UAB and Children’s of Alabama.

The parents had their questions answered about COVID-19 and the children getting the vaccine.

Four Dads and a mom from different parts of our viewing area asked thoughtful and poignant questions based on their own experiences.

For example one parent told how the whole family was infected with the virus, “I’ve never been one to be anti-vaccine, I guess I am kind of hesitant.” He wondered if they still need to get the vaccine.

Dr. Dye explained there is so much we still don’t know about how long immunity lasts especially because of the more contagious variants.

Doctor Dye said, “Having the infection certainly doesn’t give you lifelong immunity, that’s part of what’s being studied. How long do those antibodies last? But we do know that COVID can kill and thankfully in the younger ages we have not seen that, but we have seen other things come from it.”

We also talked about myocarditis, the rare heart inflammation condition appearing in about 300 patients out of millions who received the vaccine. Dr. Dye talked about how the condition can appear in other instances not related to the vaccine and it’s important for doctors to monitor what’s happening and in most cases the heart condition disappears on its own. A CDC panel is reviewing cases now.

All of the parents say it was important to be able to talk to a doctor about their concerns. Doctor Dye admits there is a lot of misinformation going around and advises parents to stay informed through the State Health Department’s website and also UAB and your trusted news sources like WBRC.

We have also included a link from Dr. Dye advising parents about talking to your children.

Copyright 2021 WBRC. All rights reserved.