Parents ask, "When will the COVID-19 vaccine for babies be available?"
Judging by the spread of the current variant of the virus, it looks like COVID-19 is here to stay. For this reason, it is recommended that everyone who is eligible should take the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent the spread of the disease.
However, there is one age group that is still waiting for a vaccine, and they are the most vulnerable ones - the babies and children under 5.
Covid-19 vaccine for babies
If you are a parent of a baby or a toddler, you might be eager to know when the COVID-19 vaccine for their age group will be available. With the world beginning to open up and restrictions being loosened, you just want to make sure that your child gets the protection he needs to prevent the complications of this disease.
Meanwhile, you're already concerned if the vaccine is safe, effective and even necessary for your child to have.
Well, to help ease your worry, here's what we know so far.
As of writing, two companies, Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech, have already applied for the emergency use authorisations for their vaccines for children under 5 years old from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.
The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will evaluate the data before giving the go signal, which can take a few weeks. According to a New York Times report, June 8 is the earliest date that the agency will present data about these vaccines to its outside advisers for a recommendation.
Moreover, the two vaccines have different regimens: Moderna is proposing two doses, using one-fourth the strength of an adult dose. Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech are working on a three-dose regimen, at one-tenth the strength of the adult dose.
It looks like it won't be long until the COVID-19 vaccine for babies and young children reaches our shores. The question is, should you allow your child to get vaccinated?
Should you get your child vaccinated against COVID-19?
Moderna has already claimed that their clinical trial showed their vaccine for children under 6 was already met their criterion for success. It was found to be safe and produced an antibody response comparable to that of adults ages 18 to 25.
They said the vaccine appeared to be 51 per cent effective against symptomatic infection among children below the age of 2, and 37 per cent effective among those 2 to 5. However, because there were no cases of serious illness or hospitalisation among any of the trial participants, they were not able to tell how well the COVID-19 vaccine protects against the disease’s worst outcomes in this age group.
Meanwhile, previous data released by Pfizer revealed that the vaccine had "a favourable safety profile" and "no safety concerns" in children ages 6 months to 4 years old.
So the general consensus is that once it gets the approval from FDA and CDC, the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, like the others already authorised for older children and adults, will be safe for babies and toddlers.
Paediatricians say you should
And while they are also eager to see the most up-to-date data on the COVID-19 vaccine for the youngest age group, the sentiment in the paediatric medical community is that parents should vaccinate their babies and toddlers against the virus once the shot becomes available.
There is also some research to back this. In fact, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that children ages 5 to 11 who received two doses of the vaccine were 68 per cent less likely to be hospitalised.
Dr Juan Salazar, a paediatric infectious disease specialist and physician in chief at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, said:
"If the safety is as good as we saw in the vaccine we’ve been giving kids over 5 and antibody production is good, I don’t see why one would not recommend this vaccine for kids aged 6 months to 4."
Some complications of COVID-19 in children
While it is true that in most cases, children only get a mild version of the disease. However, Dr Salazar would like to remind parents that there were still cases where children developed severe COVID-19 and had to be intubated or suffered a neurologic disease as a result.
Some of the common complications of severe COVID-19 in children include pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a serious condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs.
"If you have something that can protect your children, why wouldn’t you use it? Are you willing to take the risk that they could get COVID? The vaccine can help you avoid that," Dr Salazar urges parents.
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Will my baby get side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine?
According to Dr Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York, just like any paediatric vaccine, mild, short-term side effects can happen. Although most children in the 5 to 11 age group have not noticed any. Possible side effects include fever, sore arm at the injection site and muscle pain. One of the long-term side effects that parents fear is myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. However, Dr Russo points out that these already-rare cases due to the COVID-19 vaccine happen "far less" often in younger children, and are more common after having been infected by the COVID-19 virus itself than after getting a dose or two of the vaccine.How to protect your baby from COVID-19
While waiting for the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine for babies and toddlers, you should make sure you are giving your child the utmost protection that he needs to prevent getting infected. Here are some reminders for parents:- Get vaccinated as soon as possible. If the rest of the family members are already eligible to get a vaccine, they should do so. This lessens the possibility of the baby acquiring the disease in your home. Pregnant women are also eligible to get the COVID-19, and may even pass some of the antibodies to their babies.
- Make sure your baby is updated with his vaccination schedule, to prevent any life-threatening complications in case he gets infected.
- Wear masks at home and around baby and isolate if you are already feeling any symptoms of COVID-19.
- Limit your child's exposure to the public and strangers, especially if there's a local transmission of the virus in your area.
- Encourage all family members to wash hands and practice social distancing when in public.
- Continue breastfeeding your baby if you can, to help his body get antibodies for protection.
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