Amanda

If you are a parent in the US and have not gotten your kids their COVlD and flu booster shots yet, now is the time. The past two years, the rollout of available COVlD boosters has gone slowly and with confusion, so I will answer a few common questions. 1. Are my kids eligible? ▪️Children 6 months and older are eligible. ▪️A prescription from a physician generally is not needed. ▪️You generally do not need to attest to your child having a high risk medical condition. That is not required by the CDC. ▪️Note that the implementation of this general guidance may vary by state and pharmacy. Most pharmacies have now worked through the rollout confusion. 2. What options are available? ▪️Moderna (Spikevax): Ages 6 months and up ▪️Pfizer (Comirnaty): Ages 5 years and up ▪️Moderna (mNexspike): Ages 12 years and up ▪️Novavax (Nuvaxovid): Ages 12 years and up Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA-based, whereas Novavax is a protein subunit (non-mRNA) option. The biggest advantage to Novavax is that current evidence indicates fewer common short-term reactions (e.g., fatigue, headache, injection-site discomfort); the evidence is primarily from adults though. There is no robust comparative effectiveness evidence to date suggesting one option works better than the others; over time, such evidence may emerge, but findings have been mixed thus far, at times even within individual studies. 3. Does COVlD still matter? ▪️Yes, it matters for children. In addition to the importance of reducing acute infections, anyone can develop chronic health problems after any SARS-CoV-2 infection, commonly called Long COVID or post-acute sequelae. Updated boosters can reduce infection risk, urgent care use, and emergency care use, especially in the initial months after boosting. Protection wanes, and the level and durability of protection against infection vary. Especially during waves, additional protection from infection is useful. The studies are mixed as to whether the boosters reduce the chances of Long COVlD among people who get infected, with some suggesting a benefit, and others suggesting no discernible benefit among those infected. The benefit remains even if purely on the side of reducing infection chances. ▪️Yes, it matters for families, schools, and communities. Each infection prevented can stop a forward chain of transmission that can lead others in the family, school, and community to get COVlD. That is helpful for family economics so people are not missing work and beneficial for overall public health. Americans have experienced a steady rise in disability since pandemic onset that continues in 2026. Moreover, people continue to die of COVlD, at lower rates than the first two years since pandemic onset, but often these deaths have shifted to the post-acute phase, months or years after infection. These deaths often show up as heart attacks, excess deaths among people already battling a significant health condition (e.g., cancer, organ damage), and various other causes. 4. Will the COVlD boosters prevent all infections? ▪️No. When scientists use the word "prevent," they often mean "reduce the overall risk of." For example, seatbelts prevent car accident fatalities. This is a poor word choice in public health communication because many assume "prevent" means "stop all risk of." The boosters are not a panacea. They are a good tool and one of the easier tools for reducing risk. ▪️The most effective way to reduce risk of COVlD is to use layered prevention. That includes boosters, wearing well-fitting high-quality masks (for children, a Flo Mask or vetted, well-fitting KN95/KF94 like those sold by Wellbefore and others), using air purifiers, testing, and staying home when sick. These interventions are costly to families, which is why they warrant public funding. 5. Would you get your kids boosted? ▪️Yes. For the reasons noted above, it is the easiest option for reducing risk. 6. Where can my kids get boosted? ▪️Retail chains like Walgreens that have actual in-house pharmacies offer boosters, typically to children 3 years and older. If scheduling through their website, one can often schedule multiple kids for the same appointment time. Local policies and practices may vary. ▪️If seeking out Novavax, Costco is a good option, including for non-members. The major retail chains sometimes carry it. If you talk to a pharmacist, you may need to refer to it as Nuvaxovid. ▪️Children who are covered by Medicaid, uninsured, underinsured, American Indian, or Alaska Native may be eligible to get boosted through the Vaccines for Children Program. 7. What else should I know? ▪️If you and your children do not regularly mask, a pharmacy appointment is a wise place to do so. Often, the booster waiting area is the same place where people are picking up medications for acute illness. Nobody wants to get sick while getting a booster. ▪️Since children under 2 cannot mask, ask a pediatrician to offer the booster outdoors or at the first appointment of the day while those who can mask do so. 8. Do you have any financial conflicts of interest? ▪️No. I do not receive any revenue from any COVlD-related product or business. Scientists must report this to universities annually. I do not accept pharma funding ether. The CMS Open Payments Data directory remains useful for tracking pharma-related funding. Links in next. Please provide any follow-up questions and feedback on anything that has worked well or gone poorly.