Vaccines For Young Children Spurring New Optimism In COVID Fight
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There are major developments in the fight against the COVID virus: Vaccines for very young children, and optimism amongst experts that the pandemic may be starting to ease.
CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez tells us how a combination of factors are moving us towards a return to normal life.
The first step in that direction is Pfizer's imminent request to the FDA to authorize its COVID vaccine for children under 5 years of age. It would be a very low dose, two shot regimen.
There are 19 million children under age 5 in this country, and while COVID is much less common in that age group, according to the CDC, the rates of COVID hospitalizations are increasing in that age group.
COVID VACCINE
- New York State book online here or call 1-833-NYS-4-VAX
- New York City book online here or call 877-VAX-4NYC
- Track NYC vaccinations by zip code
- Nassau County more info here
- Suffolk County more info here
- Westchester County more info here
- New Jersey book online here or call 1-855-568-0545
- Connecticut book online here
"Severe disease is rare, but it can happen. And you know, no parent wants to see their child suffer from a virus and, you know, possibly get hospitalized," said Dr. Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric epidemiologist with NYU Langone Health.
Lighter says parents should take comfort in the safety record of this vaccine in kids.
"Many studies, time and again, have shown how extremely safe the vaccines are for children," Lighter said.
All this has led to a rare, newfound optimism amongst infectious disease experts. In fact, some are actually predicting a return to a relative normal life.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
- Complete COVID Vaccine Coverage
- Vaccination Sites In New York City | Call 877-VAX-4NYC
- Track NYC Vaccinations By Zip Code
- Find NYC Testing Site Near You
- Check NYC Testing Wait Times
- CDC's COVID Vaccine FAQ
- CDC's COVID Tracking Map By County
- Resources: Help With Unemployment, Hunger, Mental Health & More
- Remote Learning Tools For Students And Parents At Home
"I'm optimistic because that immunity wall against COVID is getting stronger and stronger throughout the United States. So more and more people are vaccinated and boosted. We know that that reduces the risk of death by 68 times compared to people that are not vaccinated," Lighter said.
Natural infection also adds to immunity, although less than vaccines. Plus the virus seems to be getting less virulent with time and and important anti-viral pill, Pfizer's Paxlovid, dramatically reduces hospitalizations by 90%.
Some people have argued that adding yet another vaccine to very young children overloads their immune system.
Fact is that all of us, including children, are exposed to hundreds, even thousands of antigens and pathogens every day. Our immune systems are made to handle all of that, adding a couple more vaccines won't overload it.
