[ News ] Youngest Americans can start getting COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday. Here's what every parent should know.

[Lexman.]

 

COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest Americans will be available starting Tuesday. Though some parents can't wait to vaccinate their young children, others remain hesitant or adamantly opposed.
 

In polling data from April, 18% of parents said they would vaccinate their young child right away, and 27% said they definitely wouldn't and 38% said they'd wait and see.

The coronavirus has been less dangerous for children, especially small ones, than for older adults.
 

That doesn't mean it's harmless.
 

More than 200 children ages 1-4 have died from COVID-19, and 20,000 have been hospitalized with the disease.
 

As many as 68% of American preschoolers have been infected over the past two and a half years, missing out on social and learning opportunities and passing the virus on to parents, grandparents and caregivers. 
 

Last week, two expert advisory panels, one for the Food and Drug Administration and the other for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reviewed safety and effectiveness data on the shots.
 

Both panels unanimously found that the benefits of vaccination for children 6 months to 5-6 years outweigh the risks. Members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) were adamant Saturday that parents should take the opportunity to protect their children against COVID-19. 
 

"I am fully confident that vaccines should be recommended," said ACIP chair Grace Lee, a pediatrician at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, both in California. "We can clearly prevent hospitalizations and deaths, and I believe we have the opportunity to prevent long-term complications of infections."
 

Parents will be able to choose between vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.