CDC approves vaccines for very young children; Local parents, caretakers react

DAYTON — Children as young as 6 months old will be able to get COVID-19 vaccines next week.

“This marks an important milestone for parents and for families across the country,” Dr. Leana Wen, Emergency Physician said.

But a Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey published last month found most parents are not ready.

Results show that 18 percent of parents with children under 5 are eager to get their child vaccinated right away, while 38 percent want to wait to see how vaccines work for others.

“I’m not vaccinated ... my kids are not vaccinated either,” Kaprisha Bradford told News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis.

Bradford has 3-year-old triplets and said she doesn’t feel comfortable getting her kids vaccinated yet.

“I just don’t think they did enough tests on the COVID vaccine to feel like that’s something that we need,” she said.

>> RELATED: CDC director signs off on vaccines for children 5 and under

Ohio Health’s Director said the approval process was not rushed and he is confident in the vaccines’ effectiveness.

More concerning, he said, is that there have been 79,000 cases of COVID in kids under 5 since the start of the pandemic.

“COVID-19 has had a less severe overall impact on our youngest children,” Dr. Bruce Vancerhoff, ODH Director said.

“It’s important to remember that our youngest children can still fall seriously ill with this virus,” he added.

Rhonda Risner has a 2-year-old grandchild, who she said will be getting vaccinated right away.

“In order for us to get back to normal operations, I think that it’s important that everybody who is able to be vaccinated is vaccinated,” Risner said.

When the shots become available for very young children, Pfizer has a series of three for kids 6 months to 4 years.

Moderna will only require two doses for 6 months to 5 years.

In Ohio, the state’s department of health said the vaccines would start arriving on June 20 and would be available at several places like pediatrician offices and hospitals.

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