When are your kids getting seasonal vax?

[7costanza]

We are all getting the Covid vax tomorrow. I was struggling to find somewhere that had them for my almost 5 year old, but luckily the school district is hosting an all-ages clinic. We’re going to Disney in a few weeks and I considered doing the flu shot now too, but based on the latest CDC flu activity map, and historical map from last year, will wait until mid-October for those.

[JayhawkGirl]

I was able to book my 10 year old via CVS today (couldn’t find anywhere.l accepting her age Wednesday when I searched and called). DH got his today, DS gets his after work tomorrow and DD gets hers after soccer Sunday.

As for me, I got Covid 2 weeks ago ago from a specific back to school encounter. It definite made me sick- tired and achy, cough and congestion. I started paxlovid hours after my positive and spent two days in bed. The congestion stopped within 18 hours though. I’m still a bit tired. Never a fever with any of my covid infections (this is my 3rd- very sick in 21 delta, damn near asymptomatic w omicron in 23. Have boosted each time it is available). thankfully The air purifiers, isolating me, and masking w windows open for car line kept me from spreading it with my family.

[stuffandthings]

My eight-year-old is getting both flu and COVID vaccines in early October. My husband is, too.

I’m getting mine at work at the end of September. I am very susceptible to COVID (I’ve had it three times!) and get really sick from it so I’m trying to get my shot as early as possible.

[jorja]

I shoot for late October/early November. I have the advantage of working in a hospital, so if we start to see an uptick of the respiratory viruses early in a season, I’ll try to get them in earlier.

[sometimesrunner]

DS had an appt for a physical on Friday and they had them available, so he got his. DD will get hers next month at her annual check up.

[hermione]

Everyone I know has COVID, I moved our appointments up to this Friday.

[waverly]

hermione , thanks for posting. I couldn't find any for DD (under 13) when DS and I got the adult dose, so I just checked again and got DD scheduled for the Covid vaccine.

[niq]

The school district runs clinics, but we will probably do a clinic either at our pediatrician's office or one of the nearby drug stores that stocks the pediatric vaccine.

We have to book like a month in advance for the kids. Grownups there's very little lead time (though I'm getting mine through a clinic at my job).

[minzy]

Not soon enough apparently. 😫 My older daughter tested positive for covid last night. TBD about the rest of us. I feel like I am a ticking time bomb. Not the position I wanted to be in with my dad so sick, but I’d almost like to hurry up and get an infection at home over with, as I am supposed to help him get to a wedding at the end of next week.

[waverly]

DD finally got her covid shot. There were very limited appointments and this one was a 25 minute drive away. When I got there they said they had 1 appointment after ours and then they were out of doses for her age group.

DH got all of his, so all I need to do is get the 2 kids their flu shots. I got my flu shot yesterday during DD's Covid shot.

[hermione]

We got ours last Friday. C is 11. I had to explain to the guy at CVS that she was under 12 and dosing was different. He did not believe me. I had to refuse to let him give it to her and insist he go get the pharmacist.

[osulori]

The kids and I got our Covid boosters (Moderna for all) at a pharmacy near our house on Saturday. Kid #1 and I just had sore arms yesterday, Kid #2 was knocked down with a fever for ~6 hours, sore arm, and generally whiny and tired all day. She woke up today generally feeling great aside from a little residual arm soreness so off to sitters and school she went.

I'm getting my flu shots through work today, and will get theirs at the same pharmacy we did our covid shots at in a couple weeks. My husband is going to get both of his at CVS in the next couple weeks.

[expectantsteelerfan]

My kids and I got our flu and covid (Pfizer) Saturday. We all felt pretty crappy yesterday, although Tylenol/Advil helped. We are all fine today luckily.

[rhian]

My toddler got his flu shot at a well child appt this morning. We all had covid a few weeks ago so we're holding on that one.

My partner and I plan to get flu shots next week, when my parents are visiting and able to help out with the kids if we have side effects!

[sandandsea]

Mine just had the flu shot last week. We are skipping more covid vaccines for now as we’ve all had it and I had a bad allergic reaction to one of them so it doesn’t seem worth it anymore.

[konapoppy]

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

[Jalapeñomel]

We all got our COVID and flu last weekend.

[hermione]

Oct 11, 2024 5:43:41 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

No one can answer this for you. Your doc doesn't recommend it, mine does. Do with that information whatever you deem best.

[waverly]

Oct 11, 2024 5:43:41 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

I don't believe there is a large risk to children in regards to Covid. However, we chose to do it because getting the vaccine will minimize risk of Mis-C and long covid in the kids.  We also chose to the get the shot because there was a big spike at that time.  Getting more people vaccinated would minimize the spread to adults such as myself and my H.  When we got Covid, our symptoms were far more severe than the kids' symptoms, and if I getting them the shot allows us to dodge it again, that would be great.  When I had Covid last, I had 4 days of body aches which were very painful, so I would do a lot to not have that again.  

I am sure there are a lots of people chosing not to get boosters nowadays, but that wasn't our decision because I don't want to deal with any potential issues.  My philosopy is more of avoiding problems if I can.  Some people are more laid back, and that just isn't me.  I tend to be more on the proactive side. 

[wanderingback]

Oct 11, 2024 5:43:41 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

Is the doctor recommending against the vaccine?
For me it’s all about risks vs benefits. As far as I’ve seen there are very little risks with the COVID vaccine. There are potentially benefits that I think still will take time to really tell in regards to lessening affects of long COVID, but for now that does seem like a benefit

Some Other countries also don’t promote the flu vaccine as much as we do in the U.S. but still risk vs benefit in my opinion with their being few risks to the flu vaccine in my opinion.

Lastly, if heaven forbid anything tragic happened to my kid from the flu or Covid I would likely forever feel guilty for not vaccinating them if I chose not to…because risks vs benefits lean in favor of vaccinating.

[noodleoo]

Oct 11, 2024 5:43:41 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

Did the doctor say what the downside to getting the vaccine is? The risks of serious reaction are very low, so I’m curious why (or if?) he’s actively recommending against getting it.

My opinion is if it can possibly prevent my kid from getting or transmitting Covid, it’s worth it. The times we’ve had it in the house, it has been from the kids bringing it home from school. Selfishly, I’d like to avoid any of getting sick if I can. We also have elderly grandparents we see, so again, we try to protect them by getting all of us vaccinated.

On the flip side, my sister is letting her older kids (teenagers) choose for themselves and her son doesn’t want it because he gets pretty bad side effects from the mRNA vaccines. I can understand and respect that. He’s had the primary series and several boosters already, the boosters only give incremental protection at this point.

I’ve talked to a few in the medical field who agree kids don’t need to get the boosters. They aren’t saying don’t get it, they’re saying it is your choice.

[konapoppy]

Oct 11, 2024 19:19:44 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Oct 11, 2024 5:43:41 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

Is the doctor recommending against the vaccine?
For me it’s all about risks vs benefits. As far as I’ve seen there are very little risks with the COVID vaccine. There are potentially benefits that I think still will take time to really tell in regards to lessening affects of long COVID, but for now that does seem like a benefit

Some Other countries also don’t promote the flu vaccine as much as we do in the U.S. but still risk vs benefit in my opinion with their being few risks to the flu vaccine in my opinion.

Lastly, if heaven forbid anything tragic happened to my kid from the flu or Covid I would likely forever feel guilty for not vaccinating them if I chose not to…because risks vs benefits lean in favor of vaccinating.

I wouldn’t say he is recommending against it (he has a vaccine requirement in his office, so he isn’t one of the general anti vax people). My understanding was that he felt that things have changed so much since the beginning, that the risk of complications of infection in children is so minimal that the unknown long term risks of the vaccine outweigh it.

Honestly, I think I’ll probably just ask my parents what they prefer.

FWIW, my family only had Covid in January 2021. I am sure we have endless exposures at this point. Now whether the lack of detectable infection is due to the protection of the vaccine or just immune system, I don’t know. My husband and I will get the booster.

[konapoppy]

Oct 11, 2024 19:38:10 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Oct 11, 2024 5:43:41 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Bumping this - our pedi says he isn’t recommending the booster after he had a meeting with Pfizer where they didn’t prove to him that it is really effective or necessary for kids.

I just got an email from the clinic we went to last year that the kids loved, but now I am wondering if we should even do it?

Did the doctor say what the downside to getting the vaccine is? The risks of serious reaction are very low, so I’m curious why (or if?) he’s actively recommending against getting it.

My opinion is if it can possibly prevent my kid from getting or transmitting Covid, it’s worth it. The times we’ve had it in the house, it has been from the kids bringing it home from school. Selfishly, I’d like to avoid any of getting sick if I can. We also have elderly grandparents we see, so again, we try to protect them by getting all of us vaccinated.

On the flip side, my sister is letting her older kids (teenagers) choose for themselves and her son doesn’t want it because he gets pretty bad side effects from the mRNA vaccines. I can understand and respect that. He’s had the primary series and several boosters already, the boosters only give incremental protection at this point.

I’ve talked to a few in the medical field who agree kids don’t need to get the boosters. They aren’t saying don’t get it, they’re saying it is your choice.

He didn’t feel like Pfizer, at this point, could really prove that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed potential long term risks of it. Since the infections are mostly mild these days, he wouldn’t vaccinate his kids if they were little.

Now, he didn’t necessarily recommend we NOT do it. Just not feeling like we needed it.

[konapoppy]

Oct 11, 2024 19:38:10 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

I’ve talked to a few in the medical field who agree kids don’t need to get the boosters. They aren’t saying don’t get it, they’re saying it is your choice.

Also, this is validating that others are saying it too. Thanks for sharing.

[waverly]

If I were making a choice between flu and Covid for kids the flu was far worse for DS. He had 10 days of a low grade fever it was awful and so long. Just our anecdotal experience. This was 2022 and flu type A.

[noodleoo]

We took the kids to CVS to get both flu and covid vaccines today. It was easy to make the appts, plenty available in our town. Of course we get there and the pharmacist says they ran out of pediatric Covid vaccines and only had 1 left!!! It is so annoying that the appointments apparently do not actually account for inventory. We got older DD1 both since she tends to freak out more about shots and I’ll take DD2 back later. Super annoying tho!

I got my Covid booster too and I picked novavax. I’m really hoping it has fewer side effects. I got my flu shot last week and only had a sore arm for 3 days.

[ilikedonuts]

We all got both of ours last weekend and none of us (kids are both tweens) had any issues other then a sore arm for the first 24 hours.

[noodleoo]

UPDATE: H took DD2 to a different CVS on Sunday, but they only had Moderna for kids. The side effects have been horrible. She spiked a 102 fever overnight and we all slept terrible. Poor kiddo. She was a little better Monday morning (no school thankfully) but then fever came back in the afternoon and through bedtime. She slept ok, but still has a 102 fever today so she's home from school. I was not expecting it to be this bad and now I'm annoyed we didn't wait to find Pfizer. She handling it ok but I'm really annoyed she's missing school today.

DD1 got Pfizer and no issues other than a sore arm.

I did fine with novavax too. I had a headache Sunday and some insomnia that night, but not sure it is related to the shot or not. Otherwise just a sore arm.

[waverly]

We are finally done phew. Kids got their flu shots yesterday. They had the dentist and flu shots and everyone acted like I was a monster even though I took them to McDonalds and Target (their request). But it is done. Also, DH did none of the kids shots and has only done 1 kid appointment lately which I admit was a pain in the butt appointment, but anyway, he is on my list. I keep emailing him appointments that I need help with for the kids, and he keeps dodging my verbal and email requests.  Dude.

[Susie]

OMG.  I just called my kids' pedi today to make flu and covid vax appointments.  The soonest they could offer me was 11/22 for flu and 1/2/2025 for covid.

AYFKM?  This is a pedi office where they are active and established patients.  2.5 months for a covid vax is first available.  Is it 2021 still?  I'm honestly pissed.  I didn't even take the 1/2 appointment, we will sort out a pharmacy sooner than that.