PDQ - Ethics - fudge age to get COVID vax a few weeks early?

[Susie]

I have an under-5, so I understand desperation on the subject, but no. 100% no.

[konapoppy]

I know folks who did it for other ages. I would probably do it in your shoes.

ETA - I realized I don’t know the timing for kids doses. This is only fudging by a few weeks, right?

[thebreakfastclub]

You're over 95% of the way to 5? Absolutely yes. I would have done it at 4.5yo.

[greenchile1]

Don’t do it. I’m a pharmacist and give vaccines and it’s a big deal when people lie to get vaccinated. We have to report all vaccines to the state immunization registry so there is tracking involved. Plus, if people lie and we find out after, which happened to me with an 11 year old last fall before the 5-11 group was approved, it’s a big headache. I had to report it as an incident (my company considers it a mistake) and had to make a VAERS report. Even though nothing punitive happened to me or the parent, please don’t do this. I understand the desire, but please wait until approval.

[daisyduck]

I'm pretty sure they put the date of birth on the vax card (definitely in the official record) so his would have the incorrect date of birth which could cause problems down the road if you ever need to prove he is vaxxed. I'd get the one dose on his birthday before you leave, but nothing else.

[greenchile1]

Plus, now we ask the child several times their birthday and age before we give them a vaccine. You’d have to instruct your child to lie and trust that they don’t give you away. Is that the lesson you really want to teach?

[cricketwife]

My son is 5 so his friends at pre-k were all newly 5 or nearing 5 when there vaccine first became available. I know several of the parents of the still 4’s were tempted to fudge their kids age and openly discussed it. Idk if anyone actually did or if they waited. It would be ridiculously easy to do because no one checks anything at the appointments.
I certainly understand the temptation. Mostly, I’m just disappointed with how low the efficacy rate is for this age group.

eta:  I see from PP’s that perhaps the process has changed and it’s no longer “ridiculously easy to do.”

[jaycee]

I would not.

Although, I am not a risk taker, lol. In this situation, the rewards do not out weigh the risks for me.

He still can get one shot before you leave, which is fantastic. It'll allow for some immunity.

[waverly]

So in my state the immunizations are reported by the provider into a central databasee which school nurses can access. So then my fear is that for school he would look like he isn’t vaccinated because the birthdate is wrong. And school is way more important to me.

I was sorely tempted but I waited and we were fine. You’ll be fine too, and he’ll have one dose which is great. If you want to do two doses then you could delay your Europe trip by 1-2 months.

[af1212]

I would not lie about his birthdate but I would look into the possibility of getting his second dose while on your trip.

[Poppy]

I would consider it, honestly. I don't know if the covid vaccine will ever be required by the schools here, so if it's wrong in the database, *shrug*.

But I think I'd also feel ok traveling with one dose on board based on the protection seen in adults.

[minzy]

I also wouldn’t do it. It’s probably long odds, but if I were found to have lied about something like that, there’s a chance my security clearance could be at risk, so I wouldn’t do it. I don’t know if that’s a factor at all for you.

We would all be masking if we were to go on a similar trip though. Fingers crossed there’s movement soon for the under 5s, last I read, a few days ago, Moderna was about to make a move.

[konapoppy]

May 8, 2022 21:09:02 GMT -5 minzy said:

Fingers crossed there’s movement soon for the under 5s, last I read, a few days ago, Moderna was about to make a move.

I am sure I am not the only parent of kids who are closer to 5 than 4 who are very likely skipping anything that gets released for the under 5 and going straight to the larger dose.

[ilikedonuts]

Honestly? I’d probably do it. Even if it caused a hassle later on. I’m sure I’m an asshole for saying that though 😬

[mccallister84]

I wouldn’t. I fudged DD’s birthday by a day because they wouldn’t let me sign up for an appointment if she wasn’t already 5. She was 5 a week later when she got the vaccine. But then they had used the birthday I entered on her vaccine card and it was a hassle changing it to her actual birthday.

Regardless, they approve things like this for a reason. And while sure 4 years and 50 weeks is probably more than fine when does the line hit when it’s not fine? I don’t know and that’s not my call to make (as a non medical professional).

[jorja]

I probably would.

But I never said that.

[dale]

When we took my daughter they asked to see her birth certificate, and she was 9 at the time so we were obviously not trying to sneak her into a different age group.

[mofongo]

Peak privilege has to be fudging a birthday to get a vaccine early so you can go to Europe for a month!!

I mean you made a huge PDQ PDQ Ethics post, you know the answer here.

[sillygoosegirl]

I can definitely see why you don't want Pfizer for <5 when you are so close to your kid turning 5, but it sounds like the Moderna kid vaccine is going to be considerably better (not requiring a 3rd shot to be worth submitting anyway, right?).

Also, when they approved the 5-11, they said if the patient turned 12 between doses, they could get either dose for the second shot. If they do that again, maybe you could get the lower dose before 5 and the higher dose on the 5th birthday?

[karinothing]

I know lots of people who have, including pediatricians who vaccinated there very under 5 kids. However, they can't use the vaccine as a reason to get out of quarentine. This wouldn't be as much of an issue with a kid that is almost 5.

[Velar Fricative]

I did not see the OP but get the gist. My kid turns 5 in a month and I live somewhere where school vaccinations are required (and I expect the covid vax will be soon enough too), so I wouldn’t want to mess with her birthdate on these records.

And just to go to Europe for a month? Nope.

[moonpie]

I wouldn’t. I’d be afraid it would mess up the records for the future/quarantine exemptions.

[niq]

I tried to do it, but msniq is a rule following square (except when health officials loosen mask requirements, because that's just politics).

Almost all of the 0-5 risk is concentrated in 0-1. And if karinothing is right and you can't use it as a way to shorten quarantine, there's not much benefit.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

Fuck's sake.

[loira]

Not a possibility here. All vaccines are administered by public health, who have everyone's healthcare number/DOB etc. Presumably this is to ensure nonsense like what the OP was proposing doesn't occur.

[waverly]

May 8, 2022 21:05:40 GMT -5 Poppy said:

I would consider it, honestly. I don't know if the covid vaccine will ever be required by the schools here, so if it's wrong in the database, *shrug*.

But I think I'd also feel ok traveling with one dose on board based on the protection seen in adults.

Even if not required by the schools it was still important because then the kids didn’t have to quarantine for close contacts. Some schools don’t care anymore but ours still does.

[Poppy]

May 9, 2022 11:53:58 GMT -5 waverly said:

May 8, 2022 21:05:40 GMT -5 Poppy said:

I would consider it, honestly. I don't know if the covid vaccine will ever be required by the schools here, so if it's wrong in the database, *shrug*.

But I think I'd also feel ok traveling with one dose on board based on the protection seen in adults.

Even if not required by the schools it was still important because then the kids didn’t have to quarantine for close contacts. Some schools don’t care anymore but ours still does.

Yeah, it's different everywhere. Ours gave up on contract tracing and quarantines earlier this year, so there's no incentive I can think of for having an accurate record. I suppose it's possible that things could change but I think it will be very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle.

ETA I have a vaxxed 7yo and an unvaxxed 4yo who both go to a public school and there has been no difference there or in any of their activities. I wish vaccination was incentived here by policies like that but it's just not the case.

[pooh8402]

May 8, 2022 20:01:24 GMT -5 greenchile1 said:

Don’t do it. I’m a pharmacist and give vaccines and it’s a big deal when people lie to get vaccinated. We have to report all vaccines to the state immunization registry so there is tracking involved. Plus, if people lie and we find out after, which happened to me with an 11 year old last fall before the 5-11 group was approved, it’s a big headache. I had to report it as an incident (my company considers it a mistake) and had to make a VAERS report. Even though nothing punitive happened to me or the parent, please don’t do this. I understand the desire, but please wait until approval.

As a provider, I completely agree with this.

[melmaria]

Wait, I understand why the OP deleted her initial post, but she totally deactivated/GBCN too?

This wasn't even a real flaming. People were pretty nice about their responses.

[InBetweenDays]

I too am a rule following square so I'd say no way, no how.