Health and Safety

Children between the age of 6 months and 4 years old are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. For families who have long awaited the opportunity to vaccinate this age group, it’s a sigh of relief.

“It provides another layer of protection that we have been seeking for a long time now,” parent Michael Bamshad told KOMO news while attending Seattle Children’s vaccine clinic with his 4-year-old daughter Marlowe. “Everyone else has had the opportunity to get vaccinated and now it’s time for kids under five.”

For other parents with babies and toddlers, many are wondering what side effects to look out for with smaller children who cannot yet verbalize how they feel post-shot.

To help answer the most common vaccine questions, Dr. Surabhi (Sara) Vora, an Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and an Infectious Disease Physician at Seattle Children’s and Dr. Janet Englund, a Professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Disease Specialist at Seattle Children’s shared some expert insight.

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On June 21, Seattle Children’s became one of the first locations in the country to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to children ages 6 months to 4 years old.

This was a day that Seattle Children’s staff has long worked toward, as Seattle Children’s doctors were also involved clinical trial research for COVID-19 vaccines for this age group. For children in the 6 months – 4-year-old age group, our COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial spots were highly sought after, with thousands of applicants for approximately 100 slots at Seattle Children’s.

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Over the past eight years, Seattle Children’s has worked diligently across Washington to protect youth from firearm tragedies and improve safe firearm storage practices

Lara Sim, Seattle Children’s Director of Community Health and Isabell Sakamoto, Program Manager of Suicide and Injury Prevention at Children’s bring you this post as part of our Keeping Kids Healthy efforts.

Content warning: In support of trauma-informed communications, please be aware that this message contains topics that may be activating for survivors of gun violence and those who have been impacted by it. Support yourself and loved ones–emotional and crisis support services are available to anyone.

In recent days, communities across the country have been squarely reminded that gun violence is a public health crisis for our children and their families. As we sit at the intersection of these tragedies stemming from deep rooted issues like racism and gun violence, we not only mourn the victims but join in the grief unleashed by these tragedies; we share our condolences with all who have been impacted.

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Dr. Annika Hofstetter and  Dr. Matthew Kronman spoke with On the Pulse to answer questions parents may have about the flu vaccine this year.

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Seattle Children’s Education Department provides free services for students who will be in the hospital for at least one week. The teachers are certified by the state of Washington in both general and special education. They’re experts at supporting kids and their families when children and teens are suddenly out of school and as they transition back into school after an extended absence. Scott Hampton, manager of K-12 Education Services and father of three, sat down with On the Pulse to share advice to support families in the community as they settle back into in-person learning in this new school year. Read full post »

Whether you’re in the “I need school to start now!” camp or the “Summer just started” camp, the fact is that the new school year is approaching quickly. Every year, back-to-school time is met with emotions ranging from excitement to nervousness or fear, but this year that’s even more true for students and families. Dr. Kendra Read, director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at Seattle Children’s, offers ways to reduce back-to-school worries as you support your child’s return to in-person learning.

“Uncertainty is often hard to tolerate and times of transition in the midst of uncertainty are that much harder,” Read said.

Here is some advice from Read to help navigate these trying times: Read full post »

This week, JAMA Pediatrics published an article by Dr. Gina Sequeira, co-director of Seattle Children’s Gender Clinic, about gender identity. In the article, Sequeira discusses what gender identity is, explains gender related terms, and offers recommendations to caregivers to help them support gender-diverse children.

Gender identity is unique to each person and is used to describe a person’s internal sense of being male, female, some of both or neither, Sequeira says. Terms like transgender and gender-diverse, may be used to describe individuals whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Recent estimates suggest as many as 10% of high school aged youth have a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth. Read full post »

Thanks to wider availability of vaccines and declining local rates of COVID-19, we’ve entered a new period in the pandemic. Parts of life are returning to what families were used to before coronavirus temporarily disrupted so much. As we increasingly return to obligations and pleasure outside of the home, it’s important to be aware that youth and adults alike will be learning to cope with emotions and feelings related to the experiences of the past year.

On the Pulse spoke with Dr. Yolanda Evans, an adolescent medicine physician at Seattle Children’s, about what kids and teens have experienced and how best to support them through this new period of time. Read full post »

For many of us, the past year has been uniquely stressful. Have you felt especially exhausted, struggled to focus or been more irritable than usual? Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering why you can’t cope with the stress better.

“There are very real, biological reasons why we’re finding it harder than usual to perform,” said Dr. Shannon Simmons, a psychiatrist at Seattle Children’s and medical director of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit. “Under today’s stressors, it’s common to feel fatigued, have a shorter attention span, have a harder time planning things or be more easily irritated and frustrated.”

On The Pulse asked Simmons and Dr. Mendy Minjarez, a psychologist and executive director of Seattle Children’s Autism Center, what parents, caregivers and other adults should know about the stress they may be experiencing and how they can best cope with it.

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In 2020, the TODAY Show featured Dr. Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, in a story about the evolving digital age and the effect media has on children and their developing minds. A year later, Jake Ward, NBC News correspondent, is following up to learn more about how the pandemic has impacted the use of digital devices. Watch as Ward and Christakis explore again the intersection between a child’s development and the digital world.

The below article features a family navigating the challenges of media usage during the pandemic and their participation in a study led by Christakis to better understand play-based activities.

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