Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine FDA approved for Patients 12 years and older

The two primary vaccines to prevent COVID-19 given in the US are the mra vaccines developed/marketed by Moderna and Pfizer.   The rapid immunization rates leveraging these vaccines has been a critical component of fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic.  This week, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the FDA for use in children 12 years and above (previously 16 years and above).     Since about 1 out of 4 new COVID-19 cases are for children under the age of 18, this is a very important event in the next stage of preventing the spread and complications associated with COVID-19.   The United States continues to move in the right direction related to decreasing cases of COVID-19, Hospitalizations and Deaths.   This week the average number of deaths per day linked to COVID-19 is about 600 and seems to be trending down.   

Adolescents and teens can obtain the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to help them get back to sports, camps and school.     Pediatric offices should leverage this opportunity to help by identifying and contacting all parents with children that are 12 years and above.     The PediatricXpress system by PhysicianXpress has a new tool that helps the staff of Pediatric Offices identify patients to call so that an Office manager or practice owner can effectively implement an outbound call campaign.       While many parents are very excited about this opportunity to vaccinate their 12+ year old children, some parents are vaccine hesitant or anti-vaccines.   It is important to leverage this tool as well as insure the staff conducting the outbound call training is familiar and confident in contacting the parents.   Providing words and references from creditable sites such as the CDC can help an office staff member speak with confidence when interacting with parents related to questions on the COVID-19 Vaccine.      There are a number of great tools to understand the impact of COVID-19 including 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailytrendscases

The updated age indication for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is a great opportunity for Pediatric offices to help immunize children 12 years and older.