HOUSTON — After Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, questions and concerns regarding giving shots to children that young arose.
KHOU 11 spoke with Dr. Michael Chang, a pediatric and infectious disease expert with UT Health and Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, about what approval of Pfizer's request would mean for children.
"All we want is the best for our kids," Dr. Chang said. "We have tens of millions of doses and tens of millions of kids that are fully immunized, and some kids that have even received boosters. We haven't seen any additional safety concerns from these vaccine doses."
Children under five are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination against COVID-19, leaving approximately 19 million kids still waiting.
Parents have been pushing for an expansion of the shots to toddlers and preschool-age children, especially after the omicron variant sent children to the hospital in record numbers.
But for parents concerned about side effects of the vaccine, the extra low-dose should ease those fears.
"The dose of the vaccine is going to be even lower than what we were giving the five to 12-year-olds, and lower than what adults received," Chang said. "So we're expecting even less side effects from these lower doses."
RELATED: 'Lives are hanging in the balance': COVID crisis continues to impact Houston-area animal shelters
Pfizer's shot contains just one-tenth of the dose given to adults and could be dispensed to children as young as six months.
Chang also says the low-dose vaccine has an added benefits for children.
"We're trying to minimize that risk and minimize the impact of this pandemic going forward with these kids," Chang said. "Vaccination has other benefits against the Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children, which is a post-infectious syndrome that is unique to children."