Memphian Elizabeth Woodcock, who navigated pregnancy and childbirth at the pinnacle of the COVID-19 pandemic, was relieved when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently authorized the administration of vaccines to children ages 6 months to 5 years. 

She was eager to get her daughter, 19-month-old Charlotte, vaccinated. 

“We feel a little bit more comfortable, like we’re getting to a better place with adults,” Woodcock said. “And that’s part of why getting her vaccinated as soon as possible was a top priority.”

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Woodcock, however, seems to be the exception. As of July 4, 354 children ages 6 months to 5 years have been vaccinated in Shelby County — a figure that includes vaccinations from both public and private healthcare practitioners. 

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found just one in five parents of children under age 5 said they were eager to get their child vaccinated right away, while 38% said they planned to wait to see how the vaccine worked for their children’s peers. 

Another 27 % said they would not vaccinate their children against COVID-19, and 11% said they would do so only if required. 

The KFF findings suggest lack of available information may play a role in parents’ reluctance to get their youngest children vaccinated right away. Fifty-six percent said they don’t have enough information about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 6 months to 5 years. 

By contrast, three-fourths of parents of teens and two-thirds of parents of kids ages 5-11 said they do have enough information about vaccine safety and effectiveness for their age group.

Children ages 5-11 have been eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines since November 2021. 

As of June 29, 2022, the CDC recorded 36% of those ages 5-11 have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 29% have received two doses. 

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On June 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to the nation’s nearly 20 million children ages 6 months to 5 years. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation followed June 18. 

When Woodcock called her pediatrician’s office to schedule an appointment for Charlotte to begin her rounds, she was met with uncertainty regarding the availability of the vaccines. 

Consequently, Woodcock’s husband picked Charlotte up early from daycare to take her to Shelby County Health Department’s Downtown headquarters at 814 Jefferson Ave. for her initial dose of COVID-19 vaccine. 

When Memphian Shannon Briggs, who is immunocompromised, contacted her pediatrician’s office about COVID vaccinations for her daughter, 14-month-old Lucy, they said they were not vaccinating Lucy’s age group. 

Briggs checked with her local Walgreens and CVS stores, but was informed that, despite the FDA and CDC recommendations, neither was vaccinating children as young as Lucy. 

“My daughter has been in daycare since she was 4 months old, so she’s always had a higher risk,” Briggs said. “And we’ve been waiting to travel a lot with her until she was able to get vaccinated. I’ve been wanting to fly to see friends and family in other states.” 

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Briggs also ended up getting her daughter’s first COVID-19 vaccine at the health department, which provides it at no cost and on a walk-in basis Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m at its facilities at 814 Jefferson Ave. and 1826 Sycamore View Road.

Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine have been tested and found to be safe and effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths among children in the younger age range. 

“More common side effects experienced in this age group are fever and soreness at the site,” said Dr. Chris Hanson, a pediatrician with Laurelwood Pediatric Group. “Yes, they can have some side effects, but they’re mild and very similar to what they would experience with other vaccines.”

The primary difference between the two vaccine options is the number of doses. 

Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine is a three-dose regimen. Children receive two doses three weeks apart, plus a third dose at least two months after the second dose. 

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The Moderna vaccine for children ages 6 months through 5 years old is administered in two shots spaced four weeks apart.

Hanson said his practice immediately began offering Moderna for its young patients. 

“We were able to pre-order it with the state before it got approved,” he said. “The state of Tennessee — about two weeks before the approval — sent out kind of an invitation to those already providing COVID vaccines to the older children to preorder it. It actually arrived on the day it was approved.” 

He said the most common reasons some parents are choosing to get their children vaccinated as early as possible include the need to protect immunocompromised family members, daycare exposures that have required children to be quarantined repeatedly while causing parents to miss work, and the desire to travel or attend larger social gatherings. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends COVID-19 vaccination for all children and adolescents 6 months of age and older who don’t have contraindications using a vaccine authorized for use for their age.

But with serious illness from COVID-19 infections trending downward, many families don’t consider vaccinating their youngest family members a priority. 

“For example, a 9-month-old who’s staying at home with vaccinated parents, and they might say, ‘our child’s really not exposed to that many people, so we’re not that concerned about it,’ ” Hanson said. “Maybe they’ll look at it as an option at some point in the future, when their child starts daycare.”