Ought to We Let Kids Catch Omicron?
As readers of SBM know, Dr. Vinay Prasad has advocated for the mass an infection of unvaccinated kids to theoretically defend extra susceptible adults. He’s additionally handled uncommon, often delicate, vaccine unwanted side effects, even mere irregular lab values in youngsters who really feel advantageous, with extra gravitas than literal loss of life from COVID.
Irregular lab values are handled with extra gravitas than useless kids
Even when the Delta wave was producing headlines reminiscent of Each Day, Tons of of Youngsters Are Getting Hospitalized With Covid-19, Dr. Prasad casually dismissed the COVID’s impression on kids. Watch the video beneath and examine how he mentioned kids hospitalized with COVID versus how he mentioned “subclinical myocarditis”. Precise harms had been disregarded, whereas theoretical harms had been handled very critically. There was by no means a second when Dr. Prasad critically acknowledged that COVID harm some kids. Actually, he printed his pro-infection essay, Ought to We Let Kids Catch Omicron? in February 2022, after the Omicron variant ripped via the pediatric inhabitants, producing headlines reminiscent of A Fifth of All US Youngster Covid Deaths Occurred Throughout Omicron Surge.
Dr. Prasad claims that he arrives at his conclusions as a result of he follows the proof, information, and the science.
If the epidemic is abating
Nonetheless, many individuals who declare to observe the proof, information, and the science had their minds made up concerning the COVID vaccine earlier than there was a COVID vaccine. In response to one examine:
Main anti-vaccine teams had been sowing seeds of doubt on Fb weeks earlier than the US authorities launched its vaccine growth program ‘Operation Warp Pace’. Early anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns outpaced public well being messaging and hampered the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
Like them, Dr. Prasad started his campaign in opposition to the pediatric COVID vaccine earlier than there was a pediatric COVID vaccine. The information from the randomized-controlled trial (RCT) in adolescents was launched in March 2021 through a firm press launch. This examine was printed within the NEJM in Could 2021, and all 16 COVID instances occurred within the placebo group.
But, earlier than this information was obtainable, Dr. Prasad had robust ideas on the matter. He laid out his ideas in a Twitter thread from January 2021. He mentioned:
Let me be completely clear: kids DO NOT NEED a sars-cov-2 vaccine earlier than they’re permitted to return to regular actions, reminiscent of faculty and visiting family members. Any claims on the contrary are demoralizing and counter to frequent sense and medication…
The virus in the meantime, is *thank god* not that unhealthy for many wholesome youngsters, on par with seasonal influenza. Evern the speed of mail-inflammatory syndrome is low.–though you wouldn’t know that from the breathless information protection and tweets.
This, who even says the vaccine will supply a good danger profit profile in youngsters. If the vaccine gives AEs much like Pfizer and trendy dose 2 in adults, I feel it will likely be an enormous debate if childhood vaccination is indicated.
If the epidemic is abating, how are you going to justify giving 100 youngsters these AEs in order that maybe 1 or 2 and even 3 shall be spared a case of Covid that is likely to be as delicate because the AEs themselves.
He then formalized his ideas in an essay the following month titled Youngsters Don’t Want Covid-19 Vaccines to Return to College. He argued that kids had been much less seemingly to get COVID. He mentioned:
Youngsters are much less more likely to purchase SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, than adults.
Dr. Prasad unfold pretend statistics- the vaccine would possibly save one life for each 1 million youngsters who get it– and regardless that COVID had killed over 200 kids by that time within the pandemic and the flu only one youngster, Dr. Prasad mentioned:
For them it’s a respiratory pathogen with a charge of hurt that’s similar to different, annual respiratory pathogens like influenza.
Although Dr. Prasad refused to tell his readers about COVID’s non-fatal harms to kids, he wasn’t so nonchalant concerning the vaccine. He began planting seeds of doubt about its worth, speculating it might trigger “extreme complications requiring analgesics and interfering with day by day residing” and a fever lasting “for greater than a day.” Even at this early date, Dr. Prasad was treating vaccine unwanted side effects as extra regarding than loss of life from COVID.
In a podcast with Dr. Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD) from that month, Dr. Prasad rightly acknowledged that there was no information concerning the pediatric COVID vaccine. Nonetheless, this lack of knowledge didn’t cease him from claiming the vaccine would trigger extra hurt than good. He repeated his false declare that COVID solely killed 1 in 1,000,000 kids and expressed nice concern about post-vaccination fevers and muscle aches. Whereas COVID’s non-fatal harms had been once more uncared for, Dr. Prasad felt mother and father ought to take disagreeable, although mundane vaccine side-effects very critically.
Omicron and Kids: Pediatric Hospitals in Elements of U.S. Filling Up Quick
Although Dr. Prasad thought that vaccinating adults would shield kids and obviate the necessity to vaccinate them within the spring of 2021, issues didn’t prove that manner. But, he hasn’t altered his opinions a bit. Though infants aren’t born with pure immunity, Dr. Prasad stays as dedicated as ever to the mass an infection of unvaccinated kids. Profitable RCTs of the pediatric vaccine didn’t alter his opinion. Dozens of observational research displaying the vaccine restricted uncommon, however grave harms in kids didn’t alter his opinion. Variants that spiked the pediatric loss of life toll and stuffed up pediatric hospitals didn’t alter his opinion.
Dr. Prasad has by no means deviated from the place he took in January 2021, when there was no information concerning the pediatric COVID vaccine and he thought COVID was going away. Bear in mind this the following time he claims to be following the proof, information, and the science.