CLEVELAND — The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of five on June 17.

An advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to meet Saturday, June 18, to make a final recommendation that would green-light giving younger kids the shot. 

What You Need To Know

  • The FDA has authorized the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for kids, ages six months and older 

  • Dr. Andrew Young, of the Cleveland Clinic, encourages parents to consider the COVID-19 vaccine for their young children

  • An advisory committee for the CDC is expected to meet this weekend to make the final recommendation, which is necessary for vaccines to be administered

"Vaccines are in transit to states right now, and then once the final approval comes through, that’s when we will actually be able to allocate and give vaccines to kids,” said Dr. Andrew Young, of the Cleveland Clinic. 

He expressed confidence in the FDA's decision.

“It’s a new vaccine, but in my mind that’s what makes it so incredible, is that we were able to come up with a vaccine so quickly and it’s because of science," Young said.

Young spoke from a medical perspective, but also from a father’s perspective. He’s the dad of a two-and-a-half-year-old little girl and an eight-month-old boy and will get them vaccinated.

“Taking off the doctor hat, it’s been a long two and a half years of us worrying about our kids playing together… this is going to help to ease that," he said. "And the vaccine is safe, it’s been proven to be safe time and time again."