As medical researchers dig for answers behind Long COVID, unexplained liver disease in children and unusual behaviors of common respiratory viruses including influenza, a rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine for the country’s youngest age group is underway.
Approval of vaccines for the 18 million-plus young Americans ages 6 months to 6 years makes nearly the entire U.S. population vaccine-eligible against the continually evolving and circulating SARS-CoV-2. And the emergency use authorization for both a Pfizer and a Moderna vaccine for the youngest age group comes just in time to boost children’s immunity for the upcoming school season.
See related article on how viruses
have displayed unusual patterns
since the pandemic struck.
Yet according to surveys, a vast majority of parents say they will forgo the shots for their tots, at least for a while. Below, Suchitra Rao, MD, a University of Colorado School of Medicine associate professor and pediatric infectious diseases specialist and hospitalist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, addresses some of the issues hesitant parents are asking about.
Find more information on how and where to get vaccines here.