Convincing nervous parents to vaccinate their children is key to curbing Covid, says Dr Hotez

In order to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in the future, U.S. officials will need to convince skeptical parents to vaccinate their children, Dr Peter Hotez said on Wednesday.

“It’s going to take a lot of public communication and a lot of advocacy to do, because parents are going to be a little nervous about … a whole new mRNA technology for their children,” Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, “The News with Shepard Smith” told CNBC.

Hotez’s comments came after Pfizer announced earlier today that its vaccine was 100% effective in children aged 12 to 15. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the company would soon submit the new data to the Food and Drug Administration and other regulators. He added that Pfizer will seek an amendment to its emergency use authorization to include all people 12 years of age and older.

“We see teenagers going into pediatric intensive care units, they get sick, especially those with underlying risk factors,” Hotez said. “If we’re actually going to stop the transmission of the virus, we have to reach 80.85% of the vaccinated population, now that we have the B.1.1.7 variant, which is so highly transmissible, and I think we could do that. this including adolescents. “

Hotez said he believes the United States could vaccinate “maybe 75% of adults” by the summer, but warned that “we are in a race with this B.1.1.7 variant” , resulting in higher mortality and hospitalization rates.