Health officials give advice for parents with hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccine

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO)-- This week, vaccines are becoming available for kids ages 5-11 in Southern Colorado, but according to a vaccine monitoring survey by the Kaiser Foundation, many parents would rather wait than get their kids vaccinated right away.

"It’s completely understandable. Being a parent myself and having two children that are of age now to get a vaccine, I put a lot of thought into it," said Zak Van Ooyen with Pueblo Public Health.

For parents who are unsure, Southern Colorado health officials are emphasizing it will help prevent infection, cut down on disrupting school, and keep hospitalizations down.

"We are seeing cases out of the schools and from extracurricular activities and sports and clubs. Obviously, we want to see our children as healthy as possible as well as reduce the burden on our local hospital system, and getting our children vaccinated will absolutely assist in that," said Van Ooyen.

According to the survey, parents' main concern was the potential unknown long-term effects of the vaccine.

Experts at Children's Hospital Colorado say that the benefits of the vaccine's protection outweigh any risks and it's been a long time coming for this age group.

"Most importantly, the vaccine is very efficacious in keeping people from getting very sick from covid. Finally, in terms of a community perspective keeping kids from potentially spreading the virus, the more people we have vaccinated the less we’ll have continued community transmission," said Sara Saporta-Keating, with Children's Hospital Colorado.

Health officials encourage you to do your research by reaching out to your primary care doctors and asking questions.