Children under 5 begin receiving COVID-19 vaccine at Cohen Children's Medical Center
NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. -- Some young children on Long Island got their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.
Their parents are all medical professionals, and, as CBS2's Thalia Perez reported, it happened while many parents remain skeptical about vaccinating their children.
Four-year-old Kevin Lazarus received the vaccine in his left arm. His mom is a pediatrician and he was among a group of doctors' children at Cohen Children's Medical Center who received their first dose.
"I'm hoping that today since you see a number of doctors vaccinating their own kids, that is a testament of how much we believe it's important," said Dr. Mariecel Pilapil, whose son also received his first dose.
READ MORE: NYC launches COVID vaccine sites for children 6 months to 5 years old
Children as young as 6 months are now eligible to get vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control authorized the shots over the weekend and now they are available to roughly 20 million children in the U.S.
"For many parents, you have two choices. You have the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine," said Sophia Jan, Cohen's division chief of general pediatrics.
Luca Moore who is just under a year old was one of the youngest of the group to get his shot. His mom, Dr. Danielle Smith said she worked at a Bronx Hospital during the height of COVID.
"We kind of really saw the worst of the worst in terms of COVID in the height of it, so any opportunity to protect him a little bit more," Smith said.
With doses available in our area, Perez asked parents to weigh in.
"At first, I did have some doubts, but, of course, then I spoke to my family members. I have a few doctors in my family and they reassured me that everything was going to be OK," Cherisse Bennett said.
Margaret Niham said it's still too soon to roll out the doses for young kids. Her concern is kids with underlying medical issues or ones who could have an adverse reaction to the shot.
"I just feel that when they're offering it to the younger people who seem to have such a resilience to this and the symptoms so small, and yet this myocarditis or whatever else is a threat," Niham said.
But doctors maintain the majority of children are not affected by side effects and if they are, it's minimal.
Children may suffer from a headache or fever. If there are concerns, you're advised to speak to your pediatrician.
