Parents who enrolled their kids in COVID-19 vaccine trial for children say benefits outweigh the risks

News 12 spoke to ​​​​​​​​Zina and Otavio Good, of California, who enrolled their two children in Stanford Medicine's Pfizer COVID vaccine trials for kids under 12.

News 12 Staff

May 7, 2021, 12:11 PM

Updated 1,310 days ago

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Nearly 5,000 kids from 6 months to 11 years old have been enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trial.
News 12 spoke to ​​​​​​​​Zina and Otavio Good, of California, who enrolled their two children in Stanford Medicine's Pfizer COVID vaccine trials for kids under 12.
Aside from sore arms, they've had no side effects.
"It has been given to so many adults and teenagers and this vaccine, Pfizer has excellent safety profile," said ​​​​​​​​Zina Good.​​​​​​​​
The Goods told News 12 they felt the benefits of the trial far outweighed the risks.
"Somebody might say the longterm risk of the vaccine is unknown because it hasn't been around very long, but there's also the longterm risk of COVID and that's not very known either," ​​​​​​​​Otavio Good said.
Some who are hesitant about the vaccine say its partly because its too new. But MRNA technology has actually been around for decades and used in various studies from Zika to cancer, which is something ​​​​​​​​Zina Good knows all too well as she's a cancer researcher.
"These initial studies of MRNA vaccine have been going on for quite a while," she said.
Even with pushback from some, over 3,000 families applied for Stanford's 200 slots.
"Millions and millions of people have now received the vaccine, and many parents have received the vaccine, so I think that's reassuring" says Dr. Jenna Bollyky.​​​​​​​​
Pfizer expects to have data from these trials by the second half of this year.
If all goes well, the company aims to submit for emergency use in kids this fall.
"We do want to reach herd immunity as a society and immunizing children is critical to that because they're over 20% of the population," Bollyky says.
With the goal of getting back to normal, the Goods hope their story sways those on the sidelines.
"We're just really grateful to be a part of this trial," ​​​​​​​​Zina Good added.
VACCINE INFORMATION: What you need to know