Bucks County mother shares story of kids' vaccine trial to save lives
"It's important for people to know these vaccines are safe for kids," said Angela Jablonski.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- One Delaware Valley family is going above and beyond in doing their part to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angela Jablonski, of Bucks County, says she wanted to share her story to help save lives.
"I have a family member who was a health care worker. He passed away from COVID the day Pfizer received vaccine approval," said Jablonski.
As a result, she decided to place her two children, both well under the age of five, in a Moderna vaccine trial run by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
SEE ALSO: COVID update: Omicron less deadly than delta, but hospitals still overwhelmed, CDC says
"It's double-blind, so I don't know whether or not they got the placebo or the real vaccine," said Jablonski.
But she says her children haven't skipped a beat.
"My oldest, who is now three and a half, he felt fine but had a mild fever of about 101 degrees for about a day after the second shot. He never needed any pain meds. He was home from day care that day running around totally normal," said Jankowski. "Same thing for my 18-month-old too -- no concerns at all, and we're thrilled that they're in the study."
The family will remain in constant contact with CHOP and other pediatricians as this trial progresses. She won't know whether her children received the vaccine or a placebo until the trial is complete.
Jablonski believes vaccinating people of all ages will stop the coronavirus.
"All of us want our kids to get back to normal and it's important for people to know these vaccines are safe for kids," said Jablonski.
SEE ALSO: COVID Variant: 5 reasons you should not deliberately catch omicron to 'get it over with'
According to Dr. Jonathan Miller of Nemours Children's Hospital, getting all children the vaccine couldn't be more of a priority.
"More children have died from COVID than like the last 10 flu seasons combined. So, we're really in a bad place for children," said Dr. Miller.
As it stands now, the CDC says just over half of children between the ages of 12 and 17 have been fully vaccinated, and only 23% of children between ages five and 11 have received their first dose.
Dr. Miller says pediatric hospitalizations are climbing.
"We went from averaging zero, to one, to two, to three patients with COVID in the hospital at any given time to 20-30 at any given time," said Dr. Miller.
He also says the omicron variant in children is presenting them with some new problems.
"We're seeing croup, which is a viral inflammation of the airways and we were not seeing it with COVID earlier. So, it's changing and causing a lot of respiratory symptoms," said Dr. Miller.
