“Pediatric Covid Vaccines Not Effective” – WRONG MESSAGE

The news media has understandably been overwhelmed with Russia’s intolerable invasion of Ukraine. It’s really a worldwide crisis. We should all be shocked and concerned. 

I’ve been a little distracted and have not paid much attention to the latest and greatest when it comes to Covid. Quite honestly, not much new. We’ve stalled on vaccinations and even worse with boosters. Despite persistently elevated cases and continued severe illness and death, schools, cities, states and countries are “over it” and are opening up, removing mask mandates and vaccine requirements at an uncomfortable pace.

Europe is burning, climate change is accelerating, and we are whining about being “inconvenienced” by being asked to care for our neighbor by wearing a mask or getting vaccinated. 

An issue was mentioned in between bombing reports which I thought was very important to address and clarify.

If you just followed the clickbait and didn’t really read the full story, yes on the surface, it appears that Covid vaccines are less effective at reducing the risks of CONTRACTING Covid in kids, especially those between 5-11 years of age.

Well, against Omicron, ALL the vaccines in ALL age categories are much less effective at contracting Covid, but they remain extremely effective, including in 5-11 year-olds, at preventing serious cases of the disease and thus reducing hospitalization and death. We know that the worse your case of the disease, the greater the risks of long-covid symptoms. 

All extremely worthy reasons to continue to get vaccinated.

Why are they less effective in kids at preventing disease? Simply put, the dose is too small. We say in medicine, kids are not just little adults and their physiologies work a little bit differently. Although this may is true, these days, if you look around, it’s hard to physically tell the kids from the adults, and therein lies the real problem. As far as size and weight go, younger kids are as big, or in many cases bigger, than teens used to be and teens are bigger than adults. 20% of kids under 20 are obese. A significantly higher number are overweight, not quite approaching the 75% of adults who are obese or overweight, but not far off. 10% of kids under 5 are already obese! It’s nuts. And even at that young age, they are developing the chronic diseases which come along with weight like type 2 diabetes, elevated blood pressure and already forming atherosclerotic plaques in their hearts. At 5!

Most drug doses are not prescribed based on age category, they are prescribed based on weight. Some drugs like antibiotics are grouped by age categories, but ultimately it is weight which dictates how we metabolize and deal with drugs. With most oral antibiotics for example, there is a wide dose effectiveness range so it is easier in some cases, just to group the dose based on age. But just like with many other prescription drugs, we do not take weight, age or natural physiologic activity into account. Another example of this is the very common drug synthroid, used to treat hypothyroidism. Naturally, our thyroid produces thyroid hormone in a diurnal pattern, producing it at various levels at different times of the day, but that is not how it is prescribed. It’s “easier” for people to take it once a day, but is that best?

The vaccine dose given to younger kids is 1/3rd that of older kids and adults. It stands to reason that the smaller the dose, the lower your immune response and the lesser your protection. We see it with natural infections also. Why the lower dose? Well, you always start testing a drug at the lowest doses, in order to find the sweet spot between the “minimal effective dose” and the “safest effective dose”. In this case, there is also an urgent timeline to take into consideration. So in a nutshell, concern over having some kind of safety issue pop up which would make parents even more afraid to give their kids the vaccine seems to be the driving factor. Put something out ASAP which is safe and provides some efficacy. 

We have seen some miscalculations with the adult vaccines. We should have spread out the doses out more and we really should have called the booster the “third dose”. These vaccines clearly are most effective after 3 doses serrated by 4-6 months. Some dose adjustments for kids will likely be made over time.

At this stage, only the Pfizer vaccine, one of the mRNA vaccines, is recommended for kids 5-11.

For 12-15 year-olds, Pfizer is still the only one approved. For anyone over 16, both mRNAs Pfizer and Moderna are available with the additional availability of the J&J vaccine.

As far as which one to take, again imagine that we can even make such a choice. Since we can, if you are a male teen or young adult (under 25), stick with Pfizer. Although both mRNA vaccines pose a higher risk of developing myocarditis (heart inflammation), the rate is about 3x higher with Moderna. As a young female, avoid J&J because of the potential clot issue. But keep in mind that both issues are extremely rare to begin with and certainly no higher than what occurs with other medications, vaccines and even in the general population. EVERY drug you put into your body has risks. As I have mentioned before, the drug which causes the most complications and kills the most people worldwide is aspirin. And the most commonly purchased drug class in the US are stomach acid reducers, which are linked with a slew of side effects including gut disturbance by changing the microbiome, various nutritional deficiencies because of malabsorption, osteoporosis and even increased risk of heart attack and stroke. When I present these side effects to most people, they rush to stop them and start just following reflux-precaution measures.

It seems like the lifting of restrictions, regardless of where we stand with this infection, is a runaway train. Your best protection is to still get vaccinated and stay on top of your follow up shots, AKA boosters. Masking, although less effective, continues to be important, especially in specific situations. If you’re in a place which is enclosed with many unmasked people, you may want to mask up. Wear a good mask, first of all. Wear it properly. And if you have any suspicious symptoms, don’t go out. Don’t be selfish and think about those around you.

🇺🇦 Слава Україні 🌻🇺🇦 (Glory to Ukraine)

🇺🇦 Героїм Слава 👊🇺🇦 (Glory to the Heroes)

Stay safe and be well.

AC

It’s common knowledge that I have been Vegan now for 6 years and promote a predominantly whole food plant-based diet, along with other lifestyle changes. Although my initial reasons for making the change were health-related (I was diagnosed with an autoimmune form of diabetes), I have since learned a lot about the ethical benefits as well as the massive impact that the animal agricultural industry has on our planet and climate change. Many of my patients have benefited from making similar changes in various ways including getting off medications for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as clearing up conditions like acne, allergies, reflux and losing a lot of weight. After 23 years of being in ENT practice, helping people improve their overall health in this way has been particularly gratifying. At a recent family/social event I attended, I was asked about posting something about the foods that I eat as they were interested in pursuing a plant-based diet and were having some trouble getting started.  I was quite honored and happy that they followed my postings and visited my website but to be honest, I am not up to adding “social media food blogger” to my CV.  There is plenty of that out there already. That having been said, here are some details about what I do and a great new book recommendation at the bottom (web links included).

Almost everybody has a 15-20, if not much smaller, repertoire of meals that they make repeatedly.  When changing how you eat, a simple approach is just to switch just a few of those regular meals with plant-based alternatives. Breakfast is the easiest meal to change. I too am a creature of habit and tend to do the same things, just in varying combinations. My amazing wife Talia is great at creating dinners that are varied and delicious but I make my breakfast and lunch most of the time and I keep it pretty routine.  My dietary choices are also influenced by my own health issues, mostly the diabetes which is under great control through diet and exercise.  I should be on Insulin, but still don’t need it. I credit the lifestyle for this. Most breakfasts are some sort of whole grain such as organic oat groats (one step before steel cut) or buckwheat. I batch cook a few days’ worth in my Instant Pot. I always add a variety of things. Staples include various berries, a banana, flax and chia seeds and hemp hearts.  Usually, I also add a mix of nuts including walnuts and pumpkin seeds. Cacao nibs, pomegranate kernels and cranberries also make regular appearances. I also do some seemingly odd things with my morning bowl including adding greens and even beans.  I know it sounds weird, but I love it.  Lots of spices and you basically pick whichever ones you would like.  I like cinnamon and clove and even an Indian mix called Garam Masala. I might even throw in some frozen vegetables just to up the fiber and nutrient content. I have a massive “kashka” (Ukrainian for buckwheat or other grain) bowl. I use mostly water and some plant “milk”. I make some of my own “milks” using a great device called an Almond Cow. Easy to use and very easy to clean. I occasionally have some sourdough bread with avocado or hummus and a mound of sprouts which I grow. Super easy to grow and super nutritious.

Lunch is almost always a HUGE leftover “kitchen sink” salad from the night before and an apple. I add all kinds of stuff to the salad which always include homegrown sprouts and greens, particularly kale and dandelion greens. Dandelion is the most nutritious green around and we shamelessly kill these plants with Roundup. You can eat them right out of the grass or garden, assuming you don’t use chemicals, but they are SUPER bitter, unless really young. Buy them at the store instead. Cultivated dandelion greens are milder. I also usually add carrots, onions, olives, beets, peppers, avocado, sometimes nuts, kraut, more beans, sometimes berries… whatever you want. My dressing is usually just balsamic or apple cider vinegar. Rarely a nut or tofu and nutritional yeast-based dressing. Almost never any oil. I try to keep the fats limited and get plenty from the nuts and avocado.

In general, I try to have some kind of green and bean with every meal. These are staples in the Blue Zones, places where people have the longest lifespans along with the best “healthspans”.

I have a large library of cookbooks which I either purchased or was gifted by generous family and friends over the years. Many of the recipes seem daunting. One of the first I purchased, and still a favorite, is “The Plant Power Way” by ultra endurance athlete and host of one of the most popular podcasts, Rich Roll and his chef wife, Julie Piatt. In addition to a number of practical recipes, their book also has some information about the nutritional value of a plant-based diet, and they also discuss some of the other aspects of veganism (ethics and environmental concerns) which I also subscribe to. They have a follow up book “Plant Powered Italia”.

I just received a new book, which I felt compelled to buy and review based on a lot of buzz in my sphere of interest. It was touted to be extremely well written with lots of infographics and easy to follow, simple recipes. So far it looks awesome and will probably be my go-to recommendation book for everyone. It does have some basic nutritional information without being overwhelming. It’s written by radio personality turned food/nutrition blogger Carleigh Bodrug from northern Ontario. She started a food blog which went viral (@plantyou on Instagram) and she wrote her book “Plant You” on the heels of her social media interest and popularity. Her website, www.plantyou.com, says you can preorder the book, but it came within a few days of my preorder so it’s probably in stock. It has great photos, including small ones of all the ingredients which is very helpful.

I hope this helps.

I have a ton of information about nutrition, general health topics, as well as other lifestyle strategies on my website www.doctorchuma.com. I have a large reference section there as well. My Lifestyle Tip Sheet is linked on the main page.

Stay safe and be well.

AC