Until now, children under 16 have not been included in any of the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trials.
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“Vaccines Are Safe and Effective”: Pa. Pediatrics Leader Reassures Families as Questions Grow
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Asia Tabb
SDI Productions / Getty Images
Until now, children under 16 have not been included in any of the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trials.
November 26, 2025
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The Pennsylvania chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is urging families to stay informed, stay current, and stay calm when it comes to childhood vaccinations. Dr. Kate Tigue, president of the state chapter, says access to routine vaccines remains strong, despite ongoing questions at the federal level.
“I think the most important thing for families to know is that vaccinations continue to be accessible and available,” Tigue said. “Pediatricians are well stocked with vaccines and we’re here to answer any questions.”
Tigue says the concerns she hears today differ from the ones that dominated conversation decades ago. She remembers the early 2000s when misinformation linking vaccines and autism spread widely before extensive research debunked it. “I really feel like we were on a pretty good plane and trajectory of our conversations in education,” she said. But COVID-19 shifted that progress. Not only did a new vaccine spark debate, but fewer children visited doctors’ offices during the pandemic, leaving gaps in routine immunizations like MMR and tetanus.
“In the last year, we’ve had more conversations related to vaccines just because of the change of leadership at HHS,” she added.
Recently, many parents have focused their questions on hepatitis B, especially the birth dose. Tigue says COVID-19 vaccines still come up regularly, and some families need guidance as their children approach vaccines for meningococcal disease or HPV in adolescence.
Regardless of the vaccine, Tigue says her approach always begins with listening. “The first thing in a conversation with any parent is understanding where their concern lies,” she said. Sometimes concerns come from personal experience, but often they’re rooted in online information that may or may not be credible. “Sometimes people will say, ‘Well, I’ve just read about this online.’ So that gives me a different frame of reference.”
Tigue says part of pediatricians’ responsibility is helping families separate reliable information from internet noise. She urges parents to start with trusted, science-based resources. “There are some places that we know we can access reputable, sound scientific information,” she said, pointing to the Vaccine Information Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a “fantastic site for families” that is user-friendly and not pharma-supported.
She reminds families that many vaccine-preventable diseases are unfamiliar today because vaccines have worked so well for so long. Measles, for instance, has reappeared in recent U.S. outbreaks, something she emphasizes in conversations with hesitant parents. “Trying to get parents to understand that measles is a real significant threat and what that disease looks like” is a priority, she said.
Nothing in medicine is without risk, Tigue noted, but vaccines remain among the safest and most extensively studied tools in pediatrics. “What we know from decades of ongoing study is that these vaccines are safe and they are effective,” she said.
With so much information available at families’ fingertips—accurate or otherwise—Tigue says pediatricians are focused on being steady, trusted guides.
“That’s part of our job, right?” she said. “To distill and share the science with the families.”
