For years, pediatricians have followed flawed guidelines linking race to risks for urinary infections and newborn jaundice. In a new policy announced Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics said it is putting all its guidance under the microscope to eliminate "race-based" medicine and resulting health disparities.

Related video above: Doctor discusses review process for COVID-19 vaccines for children under 4 years old

A re-examination of AAP treatment recommendations that began before George Floyd's 2020 death and intensified after it has doctors concerned that Black youngsters have been undertreated and overlooked, said Dr. Joseph Wright, lead author of the new policy and chief health equity officer at the University of Maryland's medical system.

The influential academy has begun purging outdated advice. It is committing to scrutinizing its "entire catalog," including guidelines, educational materials, textbooks and newsletter articles, Wright said.

"We are really being much more rigorous about the ways in which we assess risk for disease and health outcomes," Wright said. "We do have to hold ourselves accountable in that way. It's going to require a heavy lift."

Dr. Brittani James, a family medicine doctor and medical director for a Chicago health center, said the academy is making a pivotal move.

"What makes this so monumental is the fact that this is a medical institution and it's not just words. They're acting," James said.

In recent years, other major doctor groups including the American Medical Association have made similar pledges. They are spurred in part by civil rights and social justice movements, but also by science showing the strong roles that social conditions, genetics and other biological factors play in determining health.

Last year, the academy retired a guideline calculation based on the unproven idea that Black children faced lower risks than white kids for urinary infections. A review had shown that the strongest risk factors were prior urinary infections and fevers lasting more than 48 hours, not race, Wright said.

A revision to its newborn jaundice guidance — which currently suggests certain races have higher and lower risks — is planned for this summer, Wright said.

Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, head of an academy group on minority health and equity and a pediatrician at Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital, noted that the new policy includes a brief history "of how some of our frequently used clinical aids have come to be — via pseudoscience and racism."

Whatever the intent, these aids have harmed patients, she said.

"This violates our oath as physicians — to do no harm — and as such should not be used,″ Heard-Garris said.

Dr. Valerie Walker, a specialist in newborn care and health equity at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, called the new policy "a critical step" toward reducing racial health disparities.

The academy is urging other medical institutions and specialty groups to take a similar approach in working to eliminate racism in medicine.

"We can't just plug up one leak in a pipe full of holes and expect it to be remedied," said Heard-Garris. "This statement shines a light for pediatricians and other healthcare providers to find and patch those holes."

Seven-year-old Clark McGinnity and his nine-year-old brother Henry are both participating in the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trial.  

Right now, a child under 12 can't get a COVID vaccine unless they're part of a clinical trial. It comes down to dosing-balancing a shot's protection without causing severe side effects. 

"I don't think it's taking longer than it did on the adults," pediatric infectious disease specialist Mike Smith said. "But people need to understand that it's a whole separate set of studies because the dose is different."

We spoke with Dr. Michael smith. He's involved in the pediatric trials of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson researchers are still gathering data.  

Because children's immune systems are still growing, researchers study by age groups of five-to-12 years old, two-to-five years old, and two-to-six months old. 

Just like the adult COVID trials in previous months, they start with smaller phase one clinical trial groups to get the dosing right.  

"I'm a parent of two children who are both under 12, so I share this concern," Smith said. "I really wish my kids were vaccinated. However, I also want to make sure they have the right dose." 

Smith says the Pfizer dose for kids under 12 is about a third of the dose for everyone else. For Moderna, it's about a half of the full adult dose. 

Those phase one dosing trials are still monitoring longer-term safety data right now, as the phase two and three are underway, too.  

With those, half get a saline shot and the other half get the real thing. The double-blind studies are the credible gold standard. 

Charles Mugera's eight-year-old son, Christian is participating in the Moderna trial in Baltimore.  

"I think for the children, ultimately, what was the most appealing to them was the fact that they got their life back," he said.

Mugera – a doctor – gets the risks and the continued monitoring-a crucial piece of the vaccine timeline puzzle.  

In these trials, parents will follow up for months after their child's second vaccine, checking in daily to record any side effects like fever or soreness.   

Each of those check-ins means multiple data points. On top of blood draws and antibody numbers – all pieces the researchers, then drugmakers, then FDA will go through.

To request emergency authorization for kids under age 12, companies need to turn in four-to-six months of safety results. For the adults, only two months were needed. 

"I think the FDA is doing their job here," Smith said. "It's just that they're kind of stuck in a hard place because you're in the middle of a public health crisis."

One thing we haven't heard much about, when would something like nasal mists for kids – like we see for flu season, for example – be a possibility. 

Scientists say that would take much longer – a couple of years.  

This story was first reported by Lindsey Theis on Newsy.com.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — You don’t need to live near a wildfire to feel the impact of toxic smoke being pumped into the air. Among the most vulnerable to the air quality is children.

“If this was a once-a-year event, and it then it wouldn’t happen again for 10 years, I wouldn’t worry so much," said pediatrician Dr. Lisa Patel, MD. "But climate change has basically made wildfires a yearly, possibly year-round occurrence.”

Dr. Patel, a clinical assistant professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University, says researchers are starting to learn more about the impacts of wildfire smoke on children's health.

A study in Pediatrics found that the microscopic particles in wildfire smoke are 10 times more harmful to children’s respiratory health than pollution from other sources

"What’s burning in wildfires, an entire house goes into flames, a car, and then, it turns into these little particles that we inhale and breathes in,“ said Dr. Patel. "As to how it's going to affect children over time, we just don't know because it has gotten so much more severe, so much more quickly. We'll get the data in 10 or 15 years."

But she says it does put them at risk for asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia, and can also lead to missed days in the classroom.

“This is a concern and something that should be on everybody’s radar because these fires are so enormous and overwhelming and the wind can blow them into other places.”

And as wildfire season collides with the contagious delta variant, health experts say now is the time to upgrade school ventilation systems.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that an estimated 54% of public school districts need to update or replace multiple building systems or features in their schools. In some cases, they’re creating hazardous conditions like mold.

“It's important to clean up indoor air quality for kid's health. It always has been. It feels even more important now because of both COVID-19 and the wildfires," said Dr. Patel.

Lessons learned in districts struck by wildfires can help other schools.

“Never thought twice about a fire in this area impacting us like it did," said Ron Calloway, superintendent of Mark West Union School District in Northern California. “With the Tubbs Fire, it was basically a torch, an 80 mile an hour torch, blowing through this block.”

Hundreds of students and staff lost their homes in the 2017 fire.

“When we have a smoke day from another fire, that triggers a lot of emotion from students," said Calloway.

Now, happening every year, he had to become an expert in dealing with toxic pollution.

Each classroom has an air scrubber to remove chemicals, toxins, and viruses from the air. And all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems have HEPA filters to remove dangerous particles.

"It’s extremely toxic," said Calloway. “I say this to other districts, be prepared. Something is going to eventually happen in your area.”

But Patel sees an opportunity in the confluence of two public health crises. The pandemic prompted state and federal governments to fund upgrades to schools’ ventilation systems.

Last October, the California state legislature passed a bill allocating up to $600 million for upgrades, maintenance, and repairs to schools’ HVAC systems. Federal funds are also allocated through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.

Patel's team is working with organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the nonprofit Mothers Out Front to educate physicians and parents on how to help school districts access the funds.

“Our schools are being asked to do a lot, and they can't do it on their own," said Patel. “Start the conversation, reach out to your principal to start and say I’m worried about this, what are our school’s plans, and how can I help?"