Disability advocate encourages parents to get kids vaccinated against COVID-19

Published: Wednesday, November 3, 2021 - 11:35am
Updated: Wednesday, November 3, 2021 - 1:26pm
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Nov. 2 to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5-11. Shots could be available as soon as Nov. 3.

Kids will get a smaller dose of the vaccine than grown-ups, but trials showed it’s still very effective. Side effects were also minimal, with the most commonly seen ones being a sore arm, headaches, tiredness and nausea. One serious side effect to watch for is myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. It’s very rare, but cases were reported among adolescent boys.

While the move has been eagerly awaited by many parents who want to protect their kids from the virus, recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation found most parents won’t get their kids vaccinated right away. In fact, it found only 27% of parents said they would go first thing. About another third of parents said they’ll wait and see, and another third say they will definitely not get the vaccine for their kids.

But as this news breaks, there's at least one parent who has been waiting for this day for a very long time.

Kara Karlson is a mother of two young girls, one who is 5 and ready to get the shot and another who is 3 and has autism and a developmental disability. Because of her youngest daughter, Karlson, an attorney, has become a disability advocate of late. She now sits on the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s Developmental Disabilities Advisory Council.

The Show spoke with her just before the CDC made the decision to approve the vaccine for kids Nov. 2.

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