Children aged 6 months to 5 years will be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine at Radi Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California on June 21, 2022.Reuters / Mike Break
According to Dr. Ashish Jar, White House’s COVID-19 coordinator, the United States has begun distributing COVID vaccines nationwide to 6-month-old children, and shot availability will improve in the coming days. prize.
Last week, US regulators approved a two-dose vaccine from Moderna Inc for children aged 6 months to 5 years and a Pfizer-BioNTech 3 shot regimen for children aged 6 months to 4 years.
The number of parents vaccinated against the youngest child is unknown. Since the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved in October between the ages of 5 and 11, only about 29% of the group has been fully vaccinated, federal data show.
According to a May Kaiser Family Foundation survey, one in five parents with children under the age of five intends to be vaccinated “as soon as they qualify.”
Chinmei Hegde, the father of a 14-month-old daughter, told Reuters outside Washington’s Children’s National Hospital that US approval was a great relief. His daughter was first vaccinated at the hospital on Tuesday.
“We now feel like we can go on a trip and travel without much stress,” he said, referring to a family reunion planned in Canada in July.
Public health officials are calling on children to be vaccinated to prevent hospitalization and death if the number of cases increases again when they return to school or kindergarten in August and September.
Children who started vaccination with Pfizer Shot this week will be able to get a third vaccination in the week after September 12. Those who receive the first Moderna shot this week will be able to complete the vaccination by July 19th.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General, told CNN TV on Tuesday that nearly 500 children have died since the pandemic began and more than 30,000 children under the age of 5 have been hospitalized, parents to take the virus seriously. Advised.
“It’s hard to predict which kids will run into problems. About half of these kids with COVID problems didn’t have the underlying symptoms,” Mercy said. “That’s why every child deserves protection. We want parents to strongly consider this vaccine.”
Jha said on Twitter on Monday that the deployment of young children, unlike deployments of other age groups, did not have a place for mass vaccination, but more vaccinations would be given in the clinic.
Vaccines began shipping on Fridays and Saturdays, Jha said, adding that more clinics and hospitals would begin receiving them this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Not all pharmacies offer shots to everyone in this age group. CVS Health Corp provides shots for children over 18 months, and Walmart Inc and RiteAid Corp provide shots for children over 3 years.
