INDIANAPOLIS — A COVID vaccine for kids under the age of five could be a couple weeks away.
Pfizer applied for emergency authorization a week ago and it could get the green light by the end of the month.
Parents and local medical professionals are weighing in.
At 14 months old, little Aariz Rizvi is too young to understand how being born during a global pandemic shaped his first year of life.
“For the most part, I don’t really take him out still,” said Soha, Aariz’s mom.
Soha isn't protective of her baby just because she’s a first-time mom. She is also a doctor, practicing family medicine, and knows COVID-19's dangers all too well.
Soha said she kept breastfeeding Aariz as she got the vaccine and booster, knowing she could possibly be passing on some antibodies and protecting her baby from the virus.
"There are a lot of studies coming out now that shows the antibodies will pass through breast milk," Soha said.
Now, this new mom is even more excited to learn Pfizer has applied for emergency use authorization for its vaccine for kids younger than 5.
“The concentration and strength of the vaccine is going to be about a tenth out of what we get as an adult,” explained Dr. John Christenson, associate medical director of infection prevention at Riley Hospital.
Christenson said he’s talked with parents whose unvaccinated children were hospitalized with COVID.
“They recognize that the vaccine could have been beneficial to them,” he said.
Christenson hopes parents with kids under 5 will get the vaccine for their children when it’s available.
“The reality is, these vaccines, we’ve been giving them for over a year, so we have a pretty good idea about the safety of these vaccines,” he said.
Soha isn’t worried about the vaccine being unsafe for her son, not as a doctor and just as importantly, not as a mother.
“As a mother, I obviously want the best for my child, just like any mother does and I do believe that this is the best protection,” said Soha. “I would give it to him in heartbeat."
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