Children under the age of 5 can’t get the COVID-19 vaccine in the US yet, but there are steps you can take to protect them from infection during the holidays.
“Surround them with adults and siblings who have been vaccinated, fostered if eligible,” advises Dr. Rochelle Valensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She also encourages taking COVID-19 home tests before gatherings.
The CDC recommends that anyone who has not been vaccinated — including children 2 years of age and older — wear a mask when indoors in public. If your child is under age 2 — or can’t wear a mask for other reasons — the agency suggests limiting visits with people who are not vaccinated. and asks to maintain distance between the child and other people in public places.
The CDC says adults can also choose to wear masks indoors in public, setting an example for young children. But in virus hot spots, it says everyone in those settings should wear a mask, even if they are vaccinated.
Matthew Binnicker, a specialist in viral infections at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says it may be a good idea to mask everyone at family gatherings if unvaccinated children are present, because there’s still a chance. that vaccinated adults can spread the virus.
He also suggests limiting meetings to 10 or fewer people.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says family get-togethers should not be confused with “parties of 30, 40, 50 people” where you don’t know who has been vaccinated.
“They are the kind of actions – in the context of COVID and especially in the context of Omicron – that you don’t want to go through,” he says.
In the US, children ages 5 to 11 can get a child-sized dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The company is testing even smaller doses for infants and preschoolers.
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