Young children in Mississippi may soon qualify for coronavirus vaccinations

by

kobee vance

• Published on May 2, 2022 • Comments

Elsa Estrada, 6, smiles at her mother as pharmacist Sylvia Uong applies an alcohol swab to her arm before administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a pediatric vaccine clinic for children ages 5 to 11 set up at Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, Calif., Nov. 9, 2021. As of Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, just over 17% of children in the U.S. ages 5 to 11 were fully vaccinated, more than two months after shots for them became available.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Children in Mississippi under the age of six could soon qualify for one of two coronavirus vaccinations. Pediatric cases of the disease are rising nationally, and only a small portion of kids in the state are vaccinated.

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Moderna has requested emergency authorization from the FDA to reduce its coronavirus vaccination age limits to as young as six months old. Pfizer been awaiting approval for this age group for several months, and only a small portion of eligible children in Mississippi have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Dr. Anita Henderson is President of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a pediatrician at the Hattiesburg Clinic.

“Most of the parents I have talked to are not necessarily concerned if it’s a Moderna product or a Pfizer product, they just want to have a product that is safe and effective for their children down to the age of six months,” says Dr. Henderson. “And so they really want to find something that will protect their children since the rest of their family has already had that opportunity.”

Transmission of the disease has diminished across the globe over the last few months, and experts say the pandemic stage could be coming to a close. But they say epidemics of the disease could continue to spread in smaller geographic areas in the coming months and years. Dr. Henderson says it will be important to keep children up to date on their coronavirus vaccines, just as they would with a flu shot or other immunizations.

Dr. Henderson says “Just in the last two weeks, the number of cases in kids nationally has gone up again 43%. And we know that’s an undercount because a lot of people are doing home tests. There’s always an opportunity or chance for resurgence of this COVID infection.”

The FDA is expected to review applications from both Pfizer and Moderna in June for emergency use authorizations in this younger age group.