Children under 5 are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s what parents should know.

This story is from Yahoo News. Read more here.

COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest Americans are finally here. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky signed off on the shots for children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, and vaccinations for that age group began across the United States.

Walensky’s decision came after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to approve the COVID vaccines for children under 5, and just one day after the Food and Drug Administration had announced it was authorizing the shots under emergency use for that age group. The decision, one that many parents had been waiting for, expanded eligibility for COVID vaccination to nearly 20 million additional children, according to the CDC.

“The United States is now the first country in the world to offer safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old. For the first time in our fight against this pandemic, nearly every American can have access to lifesaving vaccines,” President Biden said on Tuesday, June 21st, from the White House.

To help offer guidance for parents of young children now eligible to receive the COVID vaccine, Yahoo News spoke to Dr. Leana Wen, public health professor at George Washington University and the author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”

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