The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents check with their pediatrician and community health care providers about how to get their children vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended two COVID-19 vaccines: one for children ages 6 months to 4 years, and one for ages 6 months to 5 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports this recommendation and encourage pediatricians to promote vaccination and give COVID-19 vaccines.
Authorization of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for children ages 6 months and older will extend the protection of immunization to the last segment in our population awaiting protection. More work remains to vaccinate older children and adolescents, as well. As of June 8, more than 23 million children ages 5 to 17 have received two doses of COVID vaccine. Another 26 million in this age group have yet to receive any doses.
“We must not let up in our efforts to make sure that all families can benefit from the protection of these vaccines,” said AAP President Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD, FAAP. “Pediatricians are ready to have these conversations, and parents and caregivers should feel comfortable brining their questions to their trusted pediatrician to have their questions addressed.”
The CDC endorsed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that all children 6 months through 5 years of age should receive a COVID-19 vaccine. This expands eligibility for vaccination to nearly 20 million additional children and means that all Americans ages 6 months and older are now eligible for vaccination.
Parents and caregivers can now get their children 6 months through 5 years of age vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines to better protect them from COVID-19. All children, including children who have already had COVID-19, should get vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccines have undergone – and will continue to undergo – the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. Parents and caregivers can play an active role in monitoring the safety of these vaccines by signing their children up for v-safe – personalized and confidential health check-ins via text message and web surveys where they can easily share with CDC how a child feels after getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Distribution of pediatric vaccinations for these younger children has started across the country and will be available at thousands of pediatric practices, pharmacies, Federally Qualified Health Centers, local health departments, clinics, and other locations. Children in this younger age group can be vaccinated with whichever vaccine is available (either Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech). Parents can reach out to their doctor, nurse, local pharmacy, or health department, or visit vaccines.gov to see where vaccines for children are available.
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