Everything You Need to Know About Fall and Winter Vaccinations – Q&A with Seattle Children’s Pediatric Infectious Disease Research Group

As summer starts to cool down, parents are all too familiar with the return of back to school prep and fun fall activities.

While families are busy checking off school supply lists and spending more time indoors through the chillier months, it might be easy to overlook the preventive care to help keep children safe from illnesses in the community and the upcoming annual flu season.

Last year brought an unprecedented tripledemic– with hospitals, including Seattle Children’s, facing a tremendous number of patients diagnosed with the flu, COVID-19 and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that largely affects young children.

In October 2022 alone, Seattle Children’s emergency department saw twice as many patients than usual, sometimes running at 200% capacity.

To shed some light on current public health and safety, On The Pulse spoke with infectious disease experts Dr. Janet Englund and Dr. Sara Vora from Seattle Children’s Research Institute to learn how families can best protect themselves through the upcoming months.

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Research Highlights: Equity Initiatives Improve Infection Rates; Cell and Gene Therapy Progress; Malaria Study

As one of the nation’s top four pediatric research centers, Seattle Children’s Research Institute remains dedicated to providing hope, care and cures to help every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible.

On the Pulse takes a look at some of the highlights from across the research institute over the past month.

 

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Seattle Children’s Research Featured in Worldwide Study on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety in Young Children

New findings from Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Clinical and Translational Research reveal that a three-dose primary series of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective in children 6 months to 4 years of age, even when a new variant (Omicron) was circulating.

The findings were released on Feb. 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine by an international team conducting the study, including Seattle Children’s lead study investigator, Dr. Janet Englund.

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