This is how this mother and pediatrician decided to vaccinate her baby against covid-19

Publisher’s note: Edith Bracho-Sanchez is a Primary Care Pediatrician, Director of Pediatric Telemedicine, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is also a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

(CNN) — Before having my baby, I thought I would be a relaxed mother. I remember seeing other mothers sweating and thinking: “no sir, not me, never me”. I thought about it partly because I’m a pediatrician. I had treated many children for seven years before having my son, William, who is now 9 months old. Surely, I thought, my knowledge as a pediatrician would help me.

To my surprise, I became an anxious mother. I get stressed out with every decision I make for William. I make long lists of pros and cons, discuss everything with my partner, sleep on it, and finally pray, hard, that I make the right decision. As silly as it may seem to me at times, I know other parents feel the same way.

Regardless of your background or level of knowledge before becoming a parent, something happens in our brains when we are faced with responsibility for the well-being of a new little person. Every decision can suddenly seem monumental.

Knowing, and even accepting, that many parents sweat over things big and small, I thought many might struggle with the latest big decision that comes before parents: getting our kids vaccinated against covid-19. These are the reasons why I decided to vaccinate William.

First of all, covid-19 is an unpredictable disease. Although most children have minor symptoms and recover well, many have ended up in hospitals and emergency rooms, and to date, more than 400 children under the age of 5 have died from the disease in the United States alone , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, we do not yet fully understand the long-term effects of the disease, as new evidence continues to emerge.

In order to get as much sleep as a baby allows at night, I need to know that I have done everything in my power to protect my baby against severe COVID-19 infection and the known and unknown long-term effects of the disease. .

Second, and this is where perhaps being a pediatrician helps, I know that the vaccine is in the body for a short period of time and with a specific mission. It commands the body to produce protective antibodies against covid-19, and the body’s own cellular mechanisms quickly break it down soon after. Therefore, there is no plausible way that it interferes with the development of my little William, something that I constantly think about.

Finally, in addition to believing in the rigorous process that vaccines went through to be approved, I believe that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC recruited some of the greatest minds bright lights of our time to serve on the independent panels that reviewed the data and recommended giving vaccines the green light.

I understand that fear can continue to guide the decisions of many parents, just as I understand that an anxious mother may need to share what makes her feel better in order for those same parents to feel safe and prepared to vaccinate their children.

For those parents, I have a message: I hope you can put aside what you read online that constantly makes us question our decisions and instead find a pediatrician who listens and responds to your specific concerns.