Experts recommend vaccinating infants under age 5 against Covid-19.

Pfizer and BioNTech have postponed their application to the Food and Drug Administration for authorization of their Covid-19 vaccine for children under five years old until at least April.

Soon, children under age 5 in the U.S. may become eligible for Covid vaccines, which has left some parents with concerns.

The FDA's vaccine advisory committee will meet on Feb. 15 to discuss an emergency use authorization for Pfizer and BioNTech's child-sized Covid vaccine, which is intended for kids aged 6 months to 5 years. According to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, there is a high chance that the FDA will approve it.

On Wednesday, CNBC reported that the CDC plans to distribute kid-sized doses of the vaccine once approved, but full data on the two-shot regimen isn't expected until Friday, and the data from its first set of trials was underwhelming.

Pfizer announced in December that two doses of their vaccine did not produce the desired immune response in children aged 2 to 5. However, the company believes that small children may require a third dose at least two months after the second one. Although the third dose is currently being tested, its data will likely be submitted to the FDA in the near future.

Parents may find it challenging to make informed decisions for their small children due to the abundance of details. Here's what you need to know:

The risks of Covid for small children

As the omicron variant of Covid-19 spreads across the country, a surge in child hospitalizations last month has prompted efforts to increase vaccination rates among young kids.

The number of Covid-associated hospitalizations among children under the age of 4 increased by nearly seven times between the first week of January and the first week of December. However, the number of hospitalizations has since decreased to six per 100,000 children for the week ending on Jan. 29, according to the CDC.

Pfizer and BioNTech have stated that their FDA request is necessary due to an "urgent public health need." As a result, parents can begin vaccinating their children with the first two doses while awaiting approval for the third dose.

Parents hoping to get their kids vaccinated may find the early data from December concerning, but pediatric infectious disease experts are optimistic that the next round of data will reveal more effectiveness, particularly in preventing hospitalizations.

According to Dr. Juan Dumous, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg, Florida, vaccinating kids under the age of 5 is worthwhile because while most of them experience mild illness when they contract Covid-19, some do not. Currently, the hospital has children in that age group with Covid-19.

Some young children with severe Covid cases may need oxygen to breathe, while others may develop a rare but serious post-Covid condition called MIS-C, which causes inflammation in various body parts including the heart, lungs, skin, and eyes.

While most children recover from MIS-C after treatment, researchers are concerned that symptoms could recur later in life due to its similarity to certain autoimmune diseases, as reported by CNBC last month.

What experts say about young kids and vaccine safety

Dr. Matthew Harris is the medical director for Northwell Health's vaccine program and a pediatric emergency doctor at Cohen Children's Medical Center in Queens, New York. He is also the father of two 7-year-old twins and a 4-month old.

The most frequent inquiry he receives is whether he will administer this vaccine to his children.

Harris states, "Yes, my school-aged kids are fully vaccinated, and my infant, who will hopefully be eligible in about a month and a half, will certainly be vaccinated."

Harris believes that parents are not to blame for asking questions about the vaccines, as it is appropriate to have a healthy sense of skepticism when making decisions for their children. For him, the data from the tens of millions of doses already given to older children and young adolescents demonstrate the vaccines' robust safety profiles and a proven amount of protection against Covid.

While some parents worry about long-term vaccine side effects emerging years or even decades after vaccination, Dr. Mark Sawyer, an infectious disease specialist at Rady Children's Hospital who served on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee that approved Covid vaccines in 2020, asserts that the likelihood of such side effects is extremely low.

"Never before has this vaccine occurred in the U.S., so why would it be any different now?" Sawyer questions, emphasizing the extensive background of vaccines in the country.

According to Dumous, side effects from vaccines usually occur within a day or two, and almost always within four to six weeks. Therefore, if no adverse effects have been observed within this time frame, it is unlikely that they can be attributed to the vaccine.

Why the small kid-sized dosage is encouraging

The vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is administered in doses of 30 micrograms for individuals aged 12 and above, while children aged 5 to 11 receive 10 micrograms per shot.

The drugmakers have suggested giving the new group of small children only 3 micrograms per shot.

Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine and College of Public Health, is optimistic about the vaccine for young kids, despite waiting for new data before making a recommendation.

She states that the company has made great efforts to achieve the lowest dose that induces an immune response while minimizing side effects.

According to Rasmussen, the benefits of the doses outweigh the potential risks if the data shows that they are safe and effective.

According to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only three out of ten parents of children under age 5 are willing to get their children vaccinated immediately once the shots are approved.

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