Which COVID-19 vaccine is best for your child?
WASHINGTON (7News) — If you’re considering vaccinating your 6-month to 5-year-old child against COVID-19, you might be wondering which vaccine is best – Pfizer or Moderna.
7News anchor Adrianna Hopkins asked a pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital for advice.
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“One of the first things they should consider is achieving immunity at a certain pace. So with Moderna, because it’s only a two-dose series at this time, they can achieve immunity sooner with those two doses. Some of the other things families might think about are the differences between doses," Pediatrician Sarah Schaffer DeRoo, MD said. "For Pfizer it’s 3mcg, Moderna 25mcg. In theory, there might be more side effects based on the size of doses, but time will tell as we see how children respond to the vaccines and we have a bigger sample size."
Adrianna asked DeRoo if she would tell her children "we're going to get vaccinated".
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DeRoo responded, “Absolutely, my 7-month-old was one of the first children to get vaccinated at Children’s National Hospital. My oldest child is 4 years old and participated in the vaccine trial and received 2 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. We anticipate getting him the 3rd dose next week.”
DeRoo also said children in this country are behind on other routinely recommended vaccines like MMR.
She wanted to remind parents that vaccines prevent outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles or pertussis.
