There are 28 million children ages 5-11 that have not been able to be vaccinated due to their age. Pfizer and Moderna have been trying to figure out a way so people of that age are able to be protected against virus. Anyone above the age of 12 can be vaccinated. The US Center for Disease and Prevention is having a meeting on Nov 2 and 3 regarding the vaccine being authorized. About 6.2 million kids have tested positive for COVID since the start of the pandemic, that’s why this is such a demand now. Not to mention 637 kids died from Covid in the U.S. alone, so something needs to be done. Just this past week 131,000 more children have gotten diagnosed with COVID.

One of the reasons companies and doctors are having trouble authorizing the vaccine is that kids are still growing. Kids react to vaccines different because their bodies are still growing, and they aren’t full adults… so do they need a full vaccine? Most people are saying no, doctors recommend that the dosage should be cut in half or that it is less than the adult one. Many are now saying that it should be one-third of the dosage to be effective at preventing symptomatic infections. This doesn’t mean that the vaccine would not be helpful towards the kids, it just isn’t needed to protect them. Doctors agree that the effect the vaccine will have on you outweighs the risks that it carries with it or 5–11-year-old children under the pandemic conditions. Even the dean of brown University went as far to say that the vaccine has a “really high efficiency”.

Before taking the vaccine it is important to understand that it is not mandatory, yet it is highly recommended. Parents are forming their own opinions on the situation and weather or not they want their kid to follow trough with it. Another thing that is very important to know is that the vaccine requires two doses given three weeks apart from each other. Experiments have also been done involving the placebo effect where some children receive the vaccine and others don’t. There was no significant difference between the child that had received vs the child that has received the vaccine.

In a meeting that occurred earlier this week reported by Buzzfeed, “the panel of outside advisors to the food and drug administration voted 17-0 to recommend authorizing the two-dose vaccine for kids 5-11. No thought has been given for kids younger than 5.” It was reported in the New York Times  that a mother of a 2-year-old will make sure that her child has all the vaccinations but isn’t sure about the Covid vaccine, if it were to be available for her child. Why is this you think? All but the one vaccine? She told the Times, “There is no incentive at all to give him the vaccine.” She is convinced that if her child got it they would recover very quickly. Others might not think so, considering that the child’s immune system isn’t going to be that strong and Covid is a very strong virus that could cause later problems in life.