In the wake of Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey‘s comments on vaccines for children, US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy said that parents need to understand that “covid is not harmless in our children”.

“Many kids have died. Sadly, hundreds of children — thousands — have been hospitalized, and as a dad of a child who has been hospitalized several years ago for another illness, I would never wish upon any parent they have a child that ends up in the hospital,” Murthy told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

“And the vaccines have shown in these trials for children 5 through 11 they are more at 90% effective in protecting our kids from symptomatic infection, and they are remarkably safe as well,” the US Surgeon General said.

McConaughey, a potential Texas gubernatorial candidate, on Tuesday, said: “I couldn’t mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids. I still want to find out more information.”

He further added that he’s not vaccinating his own children as of “right now”.

McConaughey’s comments come as the Joe Biden administration are making a push to boost the number of COVID-19 vaccination sites for children.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky also decided to endorse a recommendation to vaccinate children aged 5-11.

“When we began the vaccination effort for adults, actually a few months before we had the vaccine available, if you looked at polls they showed about a third or so of adults were ready to go out and get the vaccine right away. What changed, though, is then the FDA and CDC weighed in. People saw their friends and family get vaccinated,” Murthy said Tuesday evening.

“People also recognized they were getting protected, and they got the chance to talk to their doctors about the vaccine. All of that is going to start happening now with vaccines for children, as well.”