Newly formulated COVID-19 booster shots can protect children and lower transmission among those they encounter, experts say, as the U.S. prepares for a possible spike in cases heading into the fall and winter seasons.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized bivalent COVID-19 booster shots for children ages 5 and above. The new booster aims to target the omicron COVID subvariant, as well as the original strand of the virus.
Dr. Steven L. Zeichner is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Virginia and has urged the parents of his patients to get their children boosted as soon as possible to protect against serious infection.
“I counsel parents a fair amount,” Zeichner said. “What I say is that everything has risks and benefits, and we have to balance the risks against the benefits. For all these vaccines, the benefits far, far, far outweigh the risk.”
This post was produced and edited by Tim McPhillips, Dan Cooney, Matt Rasnic, Julia Griffin and Yasmeen Alamiri.
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