Doctor on COVID-19 vaccines for kids: 'We finally closed the loop'

Dr. Paul Offit, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center Director and Professor of Pediatrics, explains the importance of FDA recommending COVID vaccines for children from Pfizer and Moderna and the symptoms parents should expect in vaccinated kids.

Video Transcript

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SEANA SMITH: Kids under five years old are one step closer to having protection against COVID. Advisors to the FDA voting unanimously to authorize Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children as young as six months. For more on this, we want to bring in Dr. Paul Offit. He's Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center Director and Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Offit, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for taking the time.

PAUL OFFIT: Happy to be here.

SEANA SMITH: And our health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani is also joining the conversation. Dr. Offit, just first, big picture. Talk to us about the significance of this and whether or not this is going to be a game-changer going forward.

PAUL OFFIT: Well, it's significant. I mean, we-- a year and a half ago, our FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee approved the vaccine for adults. About a year ago, we approved vaccines for those over 12. About six months ago, we approved vaccines for those over five. But for that year and a half period, children-- or, parents of young children have not been able to protect those children with the vaccine.

So I think we finally closed the loop now. Everybody over six months of age can get a vaccine. I'm not sure it's going to be a game-changer in terms of how it affects the pandemic because I suspect that the uptake by those parents of children less than five won't be very big. I would imagine 15% or 20% or so would choose to vaccinate their children. But for those who want to protect their children, this is-- this is a game-changer.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And, Paul, Rachelle here. Obviously, at this stage of the pandemic, a lot of people are wondering, you know, should I take a second booster? Talk about some of the questions, the top questions, that parents really have right now about this vaccine for this youngest group.

PAUL OFFIT: So I think, you know, people tend to think that children really do not get seriously infected. And certainly, if you look, 80% of the deaths are in people over 65, 93% of the deaths from people over 55. But children can suffer and be hospitalized and die from this virus. If you look at the last two years, there's been about 45,000 children less than five who have been hospitalized. One quarter of those children have been admitted to the intensive care unit, and about 450 have died.

So if you can prevent that safely, then prevent it. And so we do now have the tools on hand. Both Pfizer and Moderna now have vaccines that are likely to be approved by the CDC over the weekend. Those vaccines are likely to sort of roll out into arms early next week.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Offit, Anjalee here. Really good to speak with you again. I want to know about the Pfizer versus Moderna. I know that they are two separate products, and you voted on them yesterday. But you made a comment specifically about the Pfizer product and the three doses required, how complex that schedule is for pediatricians and for parents specifically to follow. Do you think that Moderna might be more favored this time around for this age group?

PAUL OFFIT: So the Moderna vaccine right now is a two-dose vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine right now is a three-dose vaccine. Moderna is in the midst of doing a three-dose trial. They had said during that meeting that they thought they could have completed those data by July. So I think this-- in the end, they probably both will be three-dose vaccines. It's arguable that for the Moderna vaccine, there is better protection after the second dose than after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. But again, I think in the end, they'll both be three-dose vaccines soon.

SEANA SMITH: Dr. Offit, talk about getting the shot to children, because as I understand it, pharmacies can't vaccinate children under three years old. That obviously limits maybe the opportunities for parents to get their children vaccinated. What needs to be done? And I guess, what more can hospitals do and pediatricians' offices do to prepare for this?

PAUL OFFIT: Well, so I think the good news is it's a refrigerator stable product. So certainly, it should be pretty easy for physicians to give this vaccine, frankly, as part of the routine schedule now. And in fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently came out and said these vaccines can be used concomitantly with other vaccines. So that should make it easier. But I think you're right. In the end, I think for young children, the medical home is the pediatrician's office.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And, Paul, in terms of some of the side effects, depending on which vaccine they go with, what do parents need to know?

PAUL OFFIT: Well, so I think the one that probably worries parents the most is fever. When your immune response is revved up, you make a series of proteins which actually cause fever. Fever is actually a good thing. Your body's immune response works better at a higher temperature. That's why we all make fever. So I think that that's probably the thing that worries people the most. But, you know, pain and redness at the injection site, sometimes fatigue and headache. But I think those usually are gone by a couple of days. And, you know, what you get for that is you get protection against this virus, which can be awful.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Offit, one of the things I know you've talked about, and we heard from Dr. Levy as well discussing the idea of durable protection. And we still don't know the answer to that. How would you categorize that in terms of concerns for parents and what they need to know about potential future vaccinations?

PAUL OFFIT: That's the critical question. The critical question in the end is, when is it going to be best to vaccinate? And that's going to depend on how long immunological memory lasts. Or are you going to be protected for a year or two years, three years? And that may depend on when you get vaccinated. It's also going to depend on the nature of the variants that come around. Now with Omicron and the Omicron subvariants, we've crossed the line into these immune evasive strains.

But the good thing is, these immune evasive strains are not evasive for protection against serious illness. You're still protected against serious illness. You're just much less protected against mild illness. There's probably no better example of that than Dr. Fauci, who, despite having at least four doses of vaccine, has a mild illness. But that's good because what that shows you is a man who's clearly at risk because he's over 80 is protected against serious illness because he's been vaccinated. And I think that's where we're going to have to realize, as moving forward, that protection against mild illness will not be great, but protection against serious illness should be. And the question is, how long-lasting?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I know that's very comforting to a lot of parents who had a lot of questions that we do thank you. Dr. Paul Offit there. Thank you for joining us. And of course, Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani as well. Thank you both.