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Dr. Jeffrey S. Flier, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, recently linked to an article by Dr. Vinay Prasad, a known spreader of anti-vaccine misinformation. In this article, Dr. Prasad claimed that COVID is not truly dangerous for children and that encouraging the COVID vaccine will decrease uptake in other vaccines such as MMR and polio. Dr. Flier’s tweet was seen as an empty, performative gesture that spread misinformation in two ways. First, it spread the illusion that there had been no discussion and debate about vaccinating children, even though there have been many public meetings and studies regarding the safety and efficacy of the COVID vaccine for children. Second, it misled readers into thinking there was still genuine scientific disagreement about whether unvaccinated children should receive the COVID vaccine, when in fact pediatricians are in near uniform agreement on the matter. Many children have been hospitalized, intubated, and died from COVID, and there is evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective for children. As such, it is important for all infants to be vaccinated when eligible to prevent unnecessary suffering and death.
