BEAUMONT, Texas — A new COVID-19 vaccine is on the horizon. This one is for children younger than five-years-old. It could be here by the end of February.
On Tuesday, Pfizer asked the FDA to authorize the vaccine. Pfizer officials said it's safe, but what do pediatricians think?
Children under 5 are the only Americans who aren't eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19. That's 19 million kids.
“As hospitalization soar during this pandemic, we those are who are the only ones unprotected or that can't be protected,” said Beaumont pediatrician Dr. Ramona Ataya-Dakour.
But there could be promising news with a possible vaccine coming for these young kids.
“What Pfizer is doing is they're submitting the emergency use authorization for what they call a rolling submission for the COVID vaccine for kids,” said Ataya-Dakour.
She and over 250 pediatricians signed a petition to get vaccines in kids as young as six months old.
“So, I think it did make a difference,” Ataya-Dakour said. “We submitted this to the CDC. And it did, it did it made news and I think that along with an advocacy group of made up of parents, physician-scientists, everybody called to protect our children.”
Pfizer aims to give children shots that contain one-tenth of the dose given to adults.
RELATED: Pfizer asks FDA to allow low-dose COVID-19 shots for kids under 5
“So I know for a lot of my patients who have congenital heart defects or who are on vents, these parents are really waiting and hoping for a vaccine as soon as possible,” Ataya-Dakour said.
The FDA is expected to eventually sign off on three doses for kids. For now, regulators are focusing on authorizing two shots that they believe will provide enough protection.
“There isn't a lot of mitigation going on in Texas, especially kids are going unmasked and so I think this will really make a difference and a lot of children to minimize spread and to also minimize severe disease and hospitalizations,” Ataya-Dakour said.