NEW ORLEANS, La.— Before your child heads back to the classroom, doctors are saying put a vaccine on their “back-to-school” list.
“We do think that is an important measure to take particularly with the resurgence of the virus over the last couple of months,” Dr. Mark Kline at Children’s Hospital New Orleans said.
The highly contagious Delta variant is what’s so concerning.
“We know kids can become ill with that variant. We know children can transmit that variant as well, so adults in the home who aren’t vaccinated could become infected from a child who got it in a school setting,” Dr. Kline said.
Currently only kids 12 and up are eligible for vaccines, but there is an on-going national clinical trial that’s testing the effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine in kids 6 months to 11 years old. Locally, Tulane University School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital New Orleans will launch the trial. Until the younger kids are eligible, Dr. Kline said vaccinations are the responsible thing to do.
“To protect those younger kids who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine,” he said.
Vaccines will help get this school year off to an A+ start.
“This pandemic we are seeing right now is really a pandemic of the unvaccinated. If there was ever a time to be vaccinated, it is now,” Dr. Kline said.