JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — By the end of the month, a COVID vaccine could be approved for kids under five-years-old.
It comes after the Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer to submit a request for emergency authorization for that age group. The dose would be one-tenth of the adult dose. Not all parents, however, are ready to sign off.
A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that just 31 percent of parents nationwide said they'd vaccinate their child under five right away. Just 29 percent said they'll wait to see how other children react to the shot.
"The most important thing is millions of these doses of this vaccine have already been given," Dr. Mobeen Rathore, professor and Associate Chair of Pediatrics at UF Health Jacksonville, said.
"You don't have to wait to see how other children react. I'm not sure what we are waiting for. We know that the vaccine is safe. We know the vaccine is effective," he said.
"The preliminary research shows that the vaccine is safe and effective in this age group," Rathore said.
Rathore said the vaccine is a step towards getting life back to normal.
“Grandparents can now visit their grandchildren, you know, those five-year-olds, the newborns that they have not seen so far ... I think this is going to make a huge difference in the lives of many grandparents and parents," he explained.
"Usually, when a new vaccine comes for children, children are the ones who get the vaccine first, before adults, but in this case, adults and adolescents and order children got this vaccine and millions and millions of those have been given, and we know that not only is the vaccine, very effective, it's also safe. So, that should give parents a lot of comfort," Rathore said.
According to the Florida Department of Health, the new case positivity rate for kids under five was 26 percent last week, slightly lower than the week before.
Death in children from COVID is rare, however, kids 19 and younger in Florida had the highest positivity rates last week out of any age groups.