Pete’s Perspective: Vaccinations for Young Children

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

July 26, 2022 - Relief for parents with babies and young children has arrived with the approval of COVID vaccines for ages six months to five years. The greenlight by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is making a huge difference for many families.

Our emergency department is seeing an increasing number of children with COVID. The ability to help protect them against COVID is a gift – an opportunity for the families of 18 million infants and young children in our nation.

As parents, we make decisions every day about what is safe for our children. Vaccines are safe and effective. Hundreds of millions of people in the United States have received COVID immunizations under an intensive safety monitoring program.

The decision by the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC to recommend vaccinations for this new age group follows extensive review. While the vaccines were developed quickly, they are based on science that has been around for decades. Simply put, the benefits outweigh the risks.

Approval of the COVID vaccine for young children is a significant achievement in our fight against COVID, one we have been awaiting more than a year.

Immunization against COVID is one of the best ways you can safeguard your children. As we celebrate this vaccine milestone, it is my hope you will take action to help protect the people you love.

Be safe and be well.

– Pete