Vaccines

COVID-19 is a viral disease that can affect toddlers as well. The symptoms of COVID-19 in toddlers are usually mild or nonexistent. However, even among these younger age groups, there is risk for a more severe illness and for long-term effects. Today, toddlers as young as six months can be vaccinated.

Who should get vaccinated?

As a preventive measure, the Ministry of Health recommends vaccines for toddlers between the ages of 6 months and 5 years if they are at-risk for underlying diseases (e.g. obesity, diabetes, chronic heart and lung diseases, chronic kidney disease, and neurological disorders such as convulsions). Among other factors associated with increased morbidity in toddlers are immunosuppression (congenital or acquired), toddlers up to one year of age, and toddlers whose birth was premature or requiring a feeding tube.

Moreover, the Ministry of Health allows all parents to vaccinate their children (even if they have no underlying diseases), which provides an important layer of protection against serious illness and the long-term effects of COVID-19.

All the relevant American health organizations (FDA, CDC, American Pediatric Association, AAP), which are among the most prestigious in their fields worldwide, strongly recommend vaccination of all children and toddlers.

Please Note:

• Vaccines can be administered to toddlers aged six months to five years regardless of their recovery status.
• COVID-19 vaccines can be administered before or after other routine vaccines.

Toddler vaccine safety

Toddler vaccines were not found to have any unusual safety concerns or unexpected side effects during clinical trials. In accordance with experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA (American Food and Drug Administration), who approved the use of these vaccines and recommended vaccinating toddlers - these vaccines are safe. In the United States, 800,000 toddlers have been vaccinated so far without any unusual issues.

Why vaccinate toddlers?

• Reducing severe illness

Even in children and toddlers, COVID-19 infection can lead to hospitalization and serious illness. According to the American CDC, about half of the children hospitalized for COVID-19 had no underlying illnesses, so the risk of serious illness is present even among healthy children.

As a result of the vaccine, toddlers will be protected from serious illnesses to a very significant extent. A new study from Singapore discovered that children's vaccines provided a very high level of protection against hospitalizations (approximately 83%) in the Omicron era. In the estimation of the CDC experts and based on the data published by the vaccine developers, infant vaccines should also provide a high level of protection against hospitalization and serious illness in the future.

• Reducing long-term effects

After recovery from COVID-19, children may suffer from PIMS, an extremely life-threatening multisystem syndrome. Vaccinated children in the Omicron era had a 90% lower risk of developing PIMS syndrome than unvaccinated children, according to a Danish study.

As more and more studies show, children, like adults, may suffer from a variety of post-COVID symptoms (long COVID, diabetes, persisting neurological damage, etc.). Research on adults has shown that vaccination significantly reduced the risk of developing these symptoms, and the CDC experts believe that vaccination will reduce these symptoms in children as well.

Questions and answers on the COVID-19 vaccine for children and toddlers >

Toddler vaccine types and dosages

Toddlers receive vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna. Toddlers receive adjusted doses of both vaccines.

In the Pfizer vaccine, three doses are administered, the first and second doses separated by 21 days, and the second and third doses separated by 56 days.

Two doses of the Moderna vaccine are administered 28 days apart.

The COVID-19 vaccine is available to Israeli citizens from the age of six months onward.

Toddlers who have recovered from COVID can be vaccinated at any time following the date of recovery. It is important to not vaccinate during COVID.

Where can toddlers get vaccinated?

Vaccines will be administered by HMOs. Check with your HMO for clinics that offer the vaccine and make an appointment.

To learn more about studies and expert assessments on COVID-19 vaccination for toddlers, visit:

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/149/1/e2021053418/183463/Risk-Factors-for-Severe-COVID-19-in-Children?autologincheck=redirected

https://jkms.org/pdf/10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e35

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23333928221104677

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/12/6/e055074.full.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589537022000177

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2788844

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34097050/

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2203209

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2022-06-17-18/03-COVID-Oliver-508.pdf

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-total-admin-rate-total