COVID Vaccine Available To Children Under 5 In Prince William County

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — COVID-19 vaccinations for children 6 months to 5 years old are now available from the Prince William Health District and other providers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices gave approvals last week for younger children to be vaccinated. Once the Virginia Department of Health gave approval, providers in Virginia were allowed to begin giving vaccinations for this younger age group.

There are two COVID-19 vaccines available for children 6 months to 4 years old. Pfizer's vaccine is one-tenth the adult dose and comes in a three-dose series. The first two doses are given three to eight weeks apart, and the third is given at least two months later. Pfizer also has a pediatric vaccine for children 5 to 11 and a vaccine for ages 12 and older.

Moderna's vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old is a quarter of the adult dose and is a two-dose series. The second dose is given four to eight weeks after the first dose. Last week, the FDA also expanded Moderna's vaccine authorization for school-aged children and teens. Moderna previously had approval for ages 18 and older.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 vaccines "have undergone—and will continue to undergo—the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history."

The Prince William Health District noted that COVID-19 has one of the top 10 causes of pediatric death in the United States. Throughout the country, thousands of children have been hospitalized due to the virus. Health officials did note that young people are typically at lower risk for severe effect, though the virus can be unpredictable.

According to the CDC, young children may have less side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine than teens and adults. Common side effects for children 4 and older, especially after the second dose, are pain in the arm where the shot was given, fever, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle or joint pain and swollen lymph nodes. Common side effects for children under 3 include pain where the shot was given, swollen lymph nodes, irritability or crying, sleepiness and loss of appetite.

Parents can contact their child's pediatrician to discuss vaccine availability or visit a Prince William Health District site. The health district's mobile clinic also visits different sites around the county; more information is available online.

Some pharmacies may also offer the Pfizer, Moderna or both vaccines for this younger group, but Virginia law limits pharmacists to only administering vaccines to children over 3. Families should contact individual pharmacies to confirm.

More information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Prince William County is available online.