The FDA, CDC authorized Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines for kids 6 months and up. Here's where to find vaccines for young children, possible side effects and more
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have both authorized Pfizer PFE and Moderna’s MRNA COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5, and the Biden administration said that 10 million initial COVID vaccination doses could start being administered to young children beginning Tuesday, June 21. The kids’ versions of the vaccines are a fraction of the strength of adult vaccinations, and will be given in two or three doses.
But it’s understandable that many parents and caregivers also probably have questions about giving their children the vaccines. Just one in five parents of kids under 5 said they plan to vaccinate a child right away, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
“People should have questions. Any time we provide parents with the option of vaccinating their kids, they have the right to ask, ‘Is this safe, and is this necessary,’” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a father and the director of pediatric infectious diseases at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone. “I ask that, too. And [a COVID-19 vaccine] is a clear case where it is both safe and necessary.
The Pfizer vaccine is given to children 6 months to 4 years old, and is administered in three doses that are one-tenth the level that adults receive. The first two doses are spaced three weeks apart, and the third shot is eight weeks later. A child can be considered immunized to COVID two weeks after the third dose of the Pfizer vaccine — so, just over three months after the initial dose.
Ratner agreed, although he also noted that the two-dose Moderna vaccine might appeal more to parents, “because getting to one extra doctor visit is asking a lot,” he said. “So that may be a decisive thing if you’re at a place where your pediatrician has access to both of them. But really, either one will provide protection.”
“The day I got my vaccine, after working with people with COVID-19 from the beginning of the pandemic, I was very relieved,” he told MarketWatch. “The day I cried with relief was the day my daughter got the vaccine.”
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