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Why this Arkansas mom decided to vaccinate her young son against COVID

With all students now eligible to receive a COVID vaccine and school only weeks away, parents are now deciding whether to get their children vaccinated.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — We’re only weeks away from the start of the new school year in Arkansas. This time, students of all age groups are eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The FDA recently approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children as young as six months. While the move is seeing approval from health officials, it can present a tricky situation for the parents of these children.

First time mom, Emily Willems, chose to bring her 18-month old son, Emmett, to his pediatrician in Little Rock to receive a COVID immunization. 

She said that she made the decision after speaking with Dr. Josh Lyon, who has provided care for Emmett since he was born.

“It was definitely a discussion that we had with Dr. Lyon. We trusted him with Emmett’s care from the beginning and with all of our vaccines, and he definitely spoke to the safety of them and the protection that they provide for him,” Willems said. 

Dr. Lyon is a pediatrician who is also a parent himself. He praised Willems decision to vaccinate Emmett against a virus that continues to mutate.

“When you look at COVID across this younger population, in this age specifically, this is the most at risk age for hospitalization across all ages for children”, Dr. Lyon said.

While the pandemic has changed the way that we do handle things like routine doctor visits, Dr. Lyon said he often has conversations with families about childhood vaccines and understands that some have concerns over potential side effects. 

“I think for most families it’s this idea of the unknown more than anything else and part of that is the unknown with vaccines," Lyon said.


As for Willems, she said she has friends who are undecided on the vaccine. 

"Some of them, their kids have been sick with COVID and they didn’t get super sick, and they weathered it really well. So, it’s hard for some parents to think it’s better for them to get a shot than it is for them to just maybe be down for a day and then bounce back really quickly”, she said.

That "bounce back" is a misconception according to former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is also a board member for Pfizer.  

“We’ve seen tens of thousands of hospitalizations in this age segment.” Gottlieb said. 

This is why Dr. Lyon believes it's so important to educate parents on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, even if they still choose not to immunize in the end. 

“I think the hardest thing is every now and then you get a family who you have a conversation with, and you think it’s a good and meaningful conversation and then they decide that it’s not what’s right for their family," Lyon said. "Rarely, rarely, rarely, but it does happen, you wind up with those kids hospitalized, or you wind up with those kids who have a secondary issue.” 

Overall, he said it's about getting the right info from trusted sources and having those talks, something he had to do with his own family. 

“Even in my household that had to be a conversation, despite the fact that I have the knowledge I have and I've studied these things and I know the vaccine science but it feels different when it's your kids”, Dr. Lyon said.

For Willem, that same "talk" has made her comfortable in vaccinating her son. She wanted to ensure that Emmett could spend time with his loved ones.

“We knew that he was going to be around grandparents and great grandparents who are vulnerable so if not for his protection, for the people around him”, she said. 

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