Wednesday is the first anniversary of COVID-19 vaccines in our community.
In one year, we’ve tracked the rollout, the phases, the waitlists, and now the boosters.
A lot has happened, but there is still one group that is not eligible: children ages 6-months to 4-years-old.
There are trials underway for this age group, and one local doctor said they are promising.
In early 2022, experts expect that almost the entire population will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Right now at Texas Children’s Hospital, they are studying data from trials of all ages, down to six months.
While they admit teens have some rare side effects like myocarditis, the 5 to 11-year-old age group reportedly has fewer side effects, hardly even fever in most cases, according to Dr. Julie Boom from the Texas Children’s Hospital.
In the trial for 6-months to 4-years-old, Texas Children’s Hospital Dr. Flor Munoz-Rivas said, “they are tolerating it even better!”
Munoz-Rivas is an investigator in the Pfizer trial for children and said young babies and toddlers will get 1/10th of the dose that adults receive.
“They make the same amount of antibodies (as in protection) that adults get with that very tiny dose, and that means that they have almost no reactions. They tolerate it so well that sometimes when parents try to guess whether they had a vaccine or placebo in the trial, it’s impossible,” she said. “I can tell you that because they do very well. It is by design that we want a vaccine that is safe and effective for children of all ages.”
Right now, only 63% of the Houston and Harris County eligible population is fully vaccinated, while COVID is still mostly targeting the unvaccinated.
Cases are on the rise too, according to the Department of State Health Services.
Dr. Linda Yancey, the infectious disease specialist with Memorial Hermann, encourages everyone to opt for vaccine protection before gathering and traveling through the holidays.
“We anticipate this will continue to rise after the Christmas and New Years’ holidays and mirror the post-holiday surge we shad last year,” Yancey explained.