PORTLAND, Maine — Over the weekend, both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines got the green light for kids ages six months to five years, and doctors could start giving shots as soon as tomorrow.
Maggie Jones said she has been waiting for the day she can get her kids vaccinated against COVID-19. Her daughter, Violet, just turned five, and her son, Rory, is almost one. She says the vaccine doesn't just offer peace of mind but will make things much easier on the entire family.
"With daycare closures comes time away from work. It's just so stressful [that] it's been 2+ years of this," she said.
"I hate watching my kids get vaccines. I see them get little fevers -- I know how fussy they are," Julie Mitchell added.
Mitchell has three children, all are 5 years old or younger. She says it's hard seeing kids get so many vaccines at such a young age, but agrees with Jones.
"Adding this one into the mix I think is of little consequence of their whole lives, but of great consequence in terms of our peace of mind as far as our family clusters, our daycares, our elderly relatives. So I'm a big fan," Mitchell said.
Over the weekend Dr. Nirav Shah posted a series of tweets, sharing data including the number of children who have been hospitalized with COVID-19.
He says, out of the 85% to 90% of kids who have been hospitalized with COVID-19, COVID-19 has been the primary reason for being in the hospital. A quarter of those kids ended up in the ICU, resulting in 202 COVID-19 deaths for children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old.
"Anything we can do to protect our kids and the kids they play with every day," Jones said.
Parents we spoke to who are hesitant to get their kids vaccinated declined to speak on camera, but some still feel like their kids are too little, or aren't rushing to get shots for their kids because some have already had COVID-19, or because their kids have already made it this far without contracting the virus. Some say they still feel like the shot is too new to put in their kids' bodies.