WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave the green light Wednesday for Pfizer's pediatric COVID-19 vaccine in kids ages five to 11 years old. Health officials say that the next step would not have been possible without parents and children willing to participate in vaccine trials all over the world.
The Garcia family has both of their children enrolled in Pfizer's pediatric vaccine trial at Children's National Hospital. Elena is 11 years old and her younger brother Marco is seven. Both kids received their shots in June 2021.
The decision to participate in the trial was an easy one, according to their mother, Katie Garcia.
"We were really eager, like many parents to have our children vaccinated," she said.
The trial is a double-blind study. Neither the participants nor the doctors know who received the actual vaccine and who received a placebo. With the recent CDC approval, an unblinding will happen this week where participants will find out which shot they received.
Dr. Bernhard Wiedermann is one of the leaders of the pediatric trial. He says 2/3 of the participants received the actual Pfizer shot, while 1/3 of the participants received the placebo.
"Having this group of children immunized not only is a benefit to every individual child in that group, but it could potentially be a great benefit to the community as a whole," said Dr. Wiedermann.
Both children had no side effects to report other than a sore arm. A small price to pay to get them back to a sense of normalcy, according to their parents.
"She was like I'm going to do this because I want to have my school back and my life back," said Christian Garcia, Elena's dad.
The Garcia family says knowing they played such a major role in the fight against this virus, is something they will be proud of for years to come.
"We really want to give credit to our kids for being brave and being selfless and so giving of themselves," said Katie Garcia.