UPMC/Pitt Health Sciences Newsroom

UPMC Expert Weighs in on Pfizer Vaccine Authorization for Children Ages 12-15

“Although severe COVID-19 is rare in young kids, it does happen, and the vaccine will protect them,” said Dr. John Williams, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Visits to pediatricians dropped substantially—both well-child and sick visits—during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Monoclonal antibodies are available for outpatients with risk factors for progression to severe COVID-19 illness. The treatment is administered via infusion, and it can prevent hospitalization and reduce emergency department visits.

Patients with clinically diagnosed neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die in the hospital.

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Expert Spotlight

Dr. Sherry Chou is associate professor of critical care medicine, neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC. She is the principal investigator of the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19, which found that patients with clinically diagnosed neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die in the hospital than those without the neurological complications.