As shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 arrive at hospitals, pediatric centers and vaccination clinics around the country, some parents are hesitant to get their children vaccinated. Following his recent commentary in Barron’s, medical ethicist Art Caplan joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to share why he believes vaccine mandates for kids ages 5-11 could be premature, and may lead to lawsuits.
“The world is different now than it was when we were thinking about mandates, say, six months [or] nine months ago,” Caplain said, pointing to high vaccination rates and reduced COVID-19 spread in the United States. “I think we'll get a lot of kids vaccinated.”
“I think there's gonna be a lot of peer pressure,” Caplan added. “Like, ‘Is your kid coming to my house? Are they vaccinated?’”
Pfizer and BioNTech completed a three-phase clinical trial of the lower-dose vaccine for children 5-11 years old, and submitted both trial data and an application for emergency use authorization to the Food and Drug Administration in early October. Findings from the main clinical trial indicate that the lower-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is approximately 90% effective against symptomatic COVID in children within that age range.
Due to the vaccine’s emergency use authorization status, Caplan believes that a mandate could lead to “a host of lawsuits.” Instead, vaccine mandates for children ages 5-11 should be considered once full licensure of the vaccine is acquired.
“I don't want to wind up with six months, nine months, a year of litigation, and then we don't get anybody vaccinated because now the parents are afraid,” Caplan said.
According to a poll by CBS News and YouGov, 37% of parents surveyed said they would vaccinate their 5- to 11-year-old children, while 35% of respondents said they would not vaccinate their children, and 26% said they might.
“COVID [vaccines] should be treated the same as MMR, hepatitis and all the other vaccines,” Caplan said. “That's what I'm really hoping is gonna take place.”
Caplan is director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the New York University School of Medicine.
