The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved two COVID-19 emergency vaccines for infants, young children and young children: the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has an EUA for children 6 months to 4 years of age and the vaccine Moderna for children from 6 months to 5 years.
While some parents are excited about the news, others have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine for younger children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that anyone aged 6 months and older be vaccinated against COVID-19. And experts agree that vaccination remains critical, especially since the Omicron variant came out late last year.
“What to Expect” creator Heidi Murkoff recently met with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murty to discuss some of the most common questions parents have about the COVID-19 vaccine for children and the best way to protect your little ones during this time.
Here are some key points of the conversation:
Why it is so important for babies and children to get the COVID-19 vaccine:
“Here’s what’s important to know – although children do better than older people when it comes to poor COVID-19 results, less risk doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk,” he said. Mr. Dead. “In fact, if we look at the data from the last few years, we’ve seen a few things very clearly, one is that COVID-19 is not the flu for our young children.
“In fact, in the last few years, we have had nearly 30,000 children under the age of 5 who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. Unfortunately, we have actually lost hundreds of children, and these are numbers that are higher than we usually see with the flu. This tells you how contagious this virus is and how consistent it can be. That is why it is important to protect our children. It is also important to know that we are currently vaccinating our children against diseases that are less deadly than COVID-19, because we want to do everything we can to prevent death and disease. That’s why the vaccine is such a big deal, because it allows us to protect our children from the worst results of COVID-19. “
How safe is the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years of age:
“The good news is that we already have high-quality clinical trials for both vaccine options for children under 5, which include Moderna and Pfizer vaccines,” says Dr. Murty.
“There were thousands of children who took part in these studies and were followed for a significant period of time. We learned that the vaccine is actually remarkably safe, and the most common side effect is pain in the arm. Fever, fatigue and irritability are usually symptoms that last for about 24 hours. The other thing they looked at was the antibody levels. Antibodies are those proteins that your body produces to help fight infection, and children who have been vaccinated have been shown to have levels of those neutralizing antibodies that offer protection. So from both points of view, there was good evidence that these vaccines were safe, effective and helped keep children out of the hospital. “
About whether there is any difference between Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines:
“We have two options that are both safe and effective, which were unanimously approved by both the FDA and the CDC,” explains the chief surgeon. “There are some differences between these vaccines: the Moderna vaccine for children under 5 years of age is a two-dose vaccine and is higher. This is about a quarter of the dose that adults receive. The Pfizer vaccine includes three doses.
“The bottom line is that both are effective, so it’s a good idea to get the vaccine available in your pediatrician’s office. We now have a way to help reduce the likelihood of your child being hospitalized, and I just want every parent to be able to give their children that protection. “
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