AAll children six months old and over are eligible now to be vaccinated for COVID-19. U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech’s studies and concluded that they are safe and effective for children.
The effectiveness of vaccines varies among companies and age groups. That’s for a number of reasons: the trials were conducted during waves of different variants, trials for kids were relatively small, and very few kids tested positive for COVID-19 in the short time period during which they were studied. The studies also looked at different outcomes, with some focusing on COVID-19 infections as a measure of the vaccine’s effectiveness, while others focused on symptoms of severe disease and hospitalization. Both mRNA vaccinations proved safe and effective against severe disease in every age group.
Parents who want to get their young children vaccinated now have decisions to make, and figuring out when to vaccinate your kids—and with which vaccine—can be confusing.
Here’s a visual guide to understanding the similarities and differences between the vaccines.
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