FACT FINDERS: Are two doses of the COVID vaccine enough for kids younger than five?

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Pfizer announced Tuesday it is starting the process of submitting for Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for children ages six months up to five years.

On the heels of this news, many parents may be wondering, why all of a sudden are they moving forward with the two dose regimen for this age group, when they previously indicated it was not effective enough and were looking into a third dose?

Dr. Sean Elliott with Tucson Medical Center says he believes this is a move to help keep young kids out of the hospital. While the vaccine protection might not be to the levels that they hoped for in some children, it still provides some protection. With these two shots, he says the amount of immunity your child will get depends on their age.

”The first two doses from six months to two years was just as effective as it is in ages five through 11, young adults, and adults. So, that part is fine. It’s the age two years through four years in which the data was less robust than hoped for. Still, protective, but nowhere near the 90% protective levels they were hoping to get,” he said.

So, if your child is six months to two years, he says the two doses are very effective. However, if they are in the two to five year category, Dr. Elliott has seen varying numbers. He says it is at least 50% effective but medical professionals would ideally like that number to be higher especially against Omicron.

Dr. Elliott says the hope is, if they start giving out the first two doses soon by the time children are ready for a third dose we will have the data to support it.

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