TYLER, Texas — The omicron variant has caused COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations to triple in the past month.
Local pediatric centers and hospitals are seeing more children get exposed to the variant than ones prior.
“With Omicron we’ve definitely seen more children admitted than previous strains,” said Kathleen “KT” Helgesen, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. “I do think it's important to have that discussion and to talk about what data we're looking at and why and look at the history of how vaccines have been approved."
Pediatric nurse Kathleen Helgesen says Pfizer's request for FDA’s approval comes at just the right time.
“We really try to re-enforce with parents how much it’s been tested and many millions have received dosage prior to FDA approval,” said Helgesen.
A study from KFF shows about 30% of parents would get their child under 5 vaccinated.
With Vaccine hesitancy still prominent in East Texas, Helgesen believes parents' doubts are based on misinformation they see on social media.
“I think a lot of the parents' questions have to do with some of the misinformation that's out there,” Helgesen added. “We know that the vaccines come in a multi-dose vial so there's no way that there could be, you know, other things mixed in.”
At St. Paul’s Children's Services, Helgesten provides an open space for parents who have concerns when it comes to them deciding on whether or not to get their child vaccinated.
“What I always remind parents, while children tend to do pretty well with COVID there are still some outliers. My colleague Dr. Price that I practice with here was on call this weekend, and he had a baby admitted with COVID and bronchiolitis,” said Helgesen. “While it's rare, we're still seeing some of those complications in children.”
By providing a space of honesty, she hopes it will lessen some of the fears parents may have towards the vaccine.
“We don't vaccinate specifically just for you. We vaccinate what we call herd immunity, so to protect the group as a whole and so we try to stress that importance with parents,” Helgesen added.
St. Paul's Children's Services offers the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine to children and adults who are eligible. To schedule an appointment call (903) 531-9455.