Advisors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday recommended vaccines for the youngest children, and the final sign was agency director Dr. Rochelle came hours later from Valensky.
“We know that millions of parents and caregivers are eager to get their young children vaccinated, and with today’s decision they can do so,” Valensky said in a statement.
The shots will become available this week, propelling the nation’s vaccination campaign to babies under 6 months old.
While the Food and Drug Administration approves vaccines, it is the CDC that decides who should receive them.
Earlier on Friday, US President Joe Biden said in a statement, “We will begin sending millions of vaccine doses for children to thousands of places parents know and trust—including pediatricians’ offices, Children’s hospitals and pharmacies are included.”
“As soon as doses are distributed, parents will be able to start vaccinations for their youngest children as early as next week, with appointments in the coming days and weeks.”
While many parents in the United States are eager to get their children vaccinated, it is unclear how strong the demand for the shots will be. The Pfizer-BioEntech vaccine was authorized in October for children ages 5 to 11, but only 29% of that group has yet to be fully vaccinated, federal data shows.
COVID-19 is usually mild in children. According to the CDC, since March 2020 it has been the fifth leading cause of death in children aged 1-4 years and the fourth leading cause of death in children under the age of 1.
The CDC’s advisory panel said the shots protect young children from hospitalization, death and potential long-term complications that are still not clearly understood.
The government is already gearing up to expand the vaccine, with millions of doses ordered for distribution to doctors, hospitals and community health clinics across the country.
Roughly 18 million children will be eligible, but it remains to be seen how many will eventually get the vaccine. Less than a third of children aged 5 to 11 have done so since vaccination opened last November.
Two brands — Pfizer and Moderna — got the green light from the FDA on Friday and from the CDC on Saturday. Vaccines use the same technology but are being offered in different dosage sizes and numbers of shots for the youngest children.
The Pfizer vaccine is for children aged 6 months to 4 years. The dosage is one-tenth of the adult dose, and three shots are needed. The first two are given a gap of three weeks, and the last at least two months later.
Moderna has two shots, each one quarter of its adult dose, given about four weeks apart for children 6 months to 5 years old. The FDA also approved a third dose for children with immune conditions that make them more vulnerable to serious illness, at least one month after the second shot.
In studies, vaccinated youth developed the same levels of virus-fighting antibodies as young adults, suggesting that child-sized doses protect against coronavirus infection.
However, it’s hard to tell exactly how well they work, especially when it comes to the Pfizer vaccine.
Two doses of Moderna appeared to be about 40% effective in preventing minor infections at a time when the Omicron variant was causing most of the COVID-19 illnesses. Pfizer presented study information suggesting the company saw 80% with its three shots. But the Pfizer data was so limited — and based on so few cases — that experts and federal officials say they don’t think there’s a reliable estimate yet.
Should my child be vaccinated?
Yes, according to the CDC. While COVID-19 has been most dangerous for older adults, younger people, including children, can also become very ill.
Hospitalizations increased during the omicron wave. Since the start of the pandemic, nearly 480 children under the age of 5 have been counted in the nation’s more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to federal figures.
Matthew Daly, a Kaiser Permanente Colorado researcher who sits on the CDC’s advisory committee, said, “It is worth vaccinating, even though the number of deaths is relatively rare, because these deaths can be prevented through vaccination.”
In a statement on Saturday, President Joe Biden urged parents to get to their young children as soon as possible.
Either one, said Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s chief of vaccines.
“Whatever vaccine your health care provider, the pediatrician has, I will give to my child,” Marks said Friday.
The supplements haven’t been tested against each other, so experts say there’s no way to tell if one is better.
One thought: Pfizer’s three-shot series takes about three months to complete, but just one month for Moderna’s two-shots. That’s why families eager to quickly protect the kids want Moderna.
Pediatricians, other primary care physicians and children’s hospitals are planning to make vaccines available. Limited drug stores will offer them for at least some under-5 group.
US officials expect most shots to take place in pediatricians’ offices. White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr Ashish Jha said many parents may be more comfortable getting the vaccine for their children from their regular doctor. He predicted that the pace of vaccination would be much slower than in the older population.
“We are going to see vaccination in a few weeks and potentially in a few months,” Jha said.
It is common for young children to have more than one vaccine when they visit the doctor.
In the study of Moderna and Pfizer shots in infants and children, other vaccinations were not given at the same time, so there are no data on possible side effects if this occurs.
But problems have not been identified in older children or adults when COVID-19 shots and other vaccinations were given together, and the CDC is advising that it is safe for younger children as well.
About three-quarters of children of all ages are estimated to be infected at some point. For older people, the CDC recommends getting vaccinated anyway to reduce the chance of re-infection.
Experts have noted reinfection in previously infected people and say the highest level of protection is in people who have been vaccinated and already infected.
The CDC has said that people may consider waiting about three months after getting vaccinated for the infection.