Vaccinating Children Against the COVID Omicron Variant

Doctors are urging parents who have been worried about their elementary-age children catching the COVID-19 omicron variant to vaccinate them.

According to Ashanti Woods, M.D., a pediatrician at Mercy Family Care Physicians in Baltimore, the new protection against the omicron variant is crucial because almost all the COVID-19 cases doctors are seeing now are omicron.

"The Food and Drug Administration made an emergency use authorization for two vaccines - one from Pfizer for children ages 5 and older, and the other from Moderna for children ages 6 and older. This is important because it offers protection against the omicron variant," Dr. Woods said.

Children who meet the age requirement must have received two doses of the primary vaccine at the minimum to be eligible for the latest vaccine. If they've also received the booster, that is okay as long as at least two months have passed since receiving a vaccine - primary or booster.

Dr. Woods noted that it's important to keep in mind that a number of other viruses will be circulating as winter begins.

"Unfortunately, kids can have more than one virus at the same time. So, we don't want them to have flu and COVID, rhinovirus and COVID, enterovirus and COVID," Dr. Woods said.

View Mercy pediatrician Dr. Ashanti Woods' interview regarding children and the COVID-19 booster for the omicron variant.