CDC recommends all children under 5 receive COVID-19 vax, shipments expected to arrive in Wake on Monday
A panel of top experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the youngest children get vaccinated against COVID-19 just one day after the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine.
WRAL News checked in with pediatricians' offices and pharmacies in the Triangle, who tell us they're expecting shipments of vaccine to arrive Monday –– with shots starting Tuesday.
Wake County plans to provide free vaccines for children under 5 at clinics starting as early as next Thursday. All public health clinics will offer vaccines for all eligible ages.
The county has ordered both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Erin Bridges, a mom with two children under 5, is ready for her family to move beyond the bounds of the pandemic.
"We’re just so excited, cautiously this time, but so excited we might be nearing the end for us," she says.
How will the young child vaccines work? Are they effective?
Pfizer's vaccine for those under 5 is three doses spread out over about three months. Moderna's only requires two shots, four weeks apart.
Pfizer shows 75-82% effectiveness after all three doses, compared to Moderna's, which only reaches 37-51% effectiveness.
However, the Pfizer vaccine doesn't provide as much protection as Moderna after just two shots.
WRAL News asked UNC Health Pediatric Infectious Diseases Doctor Matthew Vogt if one brand is better than the other.
"It’s basically the difference between 7-Up and Sprite. There isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two vaccines," he says.
Both vaccines generate a strong immune response to protect the youngest from the virus, according to Vogt. Therefore, he says if a parent finds an available vaccine, he feels they should go ahead and get the vaccine for their child, rather than waiting for their preferred vaccine.
"To try to wait around for one of the vaccines to be available if the other is already available, that’s really to me just wasting time that you could have efficacious vaccine in your arm," he says.
Doctor Aaron Pankiewicz expects a rush of appointments at Apex Pediatrics.
"I think most parents are more excited about the fact that they’re going to have options," says Pankiewicz.
Their office, which also has locations in Cary and Fuquay-Varina, will stock both COVID vaccines for kids under 5.
"We offer many vaccines to our children, and we wouldn’t offer anything that we don’t believe is safe and effective," says Pankiewicz.
