LI experts: Expedited vaccine approval for youngest kids would be a crucial step

Approval of COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 6 months to 5 years would be a crucial step in slowing the pandemic, according to Long Island health experts, and while some area parents want their youngest inoculated, others remain resistant.

Pfizer-BioNTech on Tuesday asked the federal government to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children in the age group. If approved, the vaccinations could begin as early as March, officials said.

The Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to apply earlier than the companies had planned.

Children under 5 are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination against COVID-19. Many parents have been pushing for an expansion of the shots as the omicron wave hospitalized record numbers of children nationwide.

Health experts on Long Island hailed Pfizer's request.

"I think it’s a great thing. It’s an important age group to get involved … especially if we want to see an endpoint to this pandemic," said Dr. Howard Balbi, the director of pediatric infectious diseases and associate chairman of pediatrics at Catholic Health's Good Samaritan Hospital.

"I think it is important to get it into them as early as possible," he said.

James Mayors, of Hauppauge, who has a 3-year-old daughter, said he has been "anxiously waiting" to get her vaccinated and will do so if the Pfizer shot is approved.

"I don’t want her to suffer any long-term illness," he said. "It’s a big concern for my family."

Mayors said he hopes such a vaccine will help return life to how it was before the pandemic.

"I’d like to get my kids some form of normalcy, playing with other kids," he said. "I’d like to be able for her to go to preschool with peace of mind."

Elaine LaPersonerie, of Merrick, said she's not necessarily against vaccinating young children like her infant son, "but I’m not there yet."

"I feel it’s premature to say it’s safe for children," said LaPersonerie, 45.

She worries because the vaccine is still relatively new.

"It’s as though I would send my child up into space on some brand new rocket ship," she said.

Balbi noted that the number of COVID-19 cases in children 5 and under has been rising, leading to more hospitalized, with some in the ICU.

"While they oftentimes have milder illnesses, the numbers in that group are going up because they are one of the few groups that are left out there that are not vaccinated," Balbi said.

A growing number of children are getting MIS-C, a complication of COVID-19, Balbi said. MIS-C, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, can cause body parts to become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In mid-January, the New York State Department of Health reported that between the week of Dec. 5-11 and the week of Jan. 2-8, hospital admissions for COVID-19 of those 18 and younger increased by more than sevenfold statewide — much larger than the threefold spike for adult hospitalizations in the same time period. The large majority of the children admitted were unvaccinated — 90% of children 5 to 11 and 61% of kids 12 to 17, the health department said.

Other medical experts said they looked forward to seeing data on the vaccine series from Pfizer-BioNTech and the FDA.

"I really hope that it is true that we will have good data that shows this vaccine is safe for this age group, because a lot of parents have been waiting for it, and I think what the world really needs is to make sure all age groups will be sufficiently protected against COVID," said Dr. Mundeep Kainth, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park. "It is absolutely needed right now."

Kainth said she expects some families to want the vaccine for their children immediately, while others might be more hesitant.

"I think there is a definite subset of the population who will be running to get their kids vaccinated," she said. But, Kainth added, there will be "an uphill battle with the rest of the population."

All the COVID-19 patients she has seen in Cohen Children’s Hospital were unvaccinated, Kainth said.

Sarbelia Benedict, 38, of North Babylon, is hoping the vaccine is approved for her son, Patrick, 4, and other children in his age group who have "been left in limbo."

"All he’s ever known," Benedict said of Patrick, is life under this contagion.

"I think it’s very important," she said. "My older child is vaccinated. [Benedict and her husband] are vaccinated and boosted. But we’re still restricting ourselves."

Benedict said she came down with COVID-19 in March 2020, when there was no vaccine.

"I was very sick for three months. I was away from my children. It was hard for me and my children," she said. "I’m a long-hauler. I have brain fog, extreme fatigue, chest palpitations."

She added, "I know the effects. I was always nervous about the children getting sick."

When the omicron variant appeared, Benedict said she became even more concerned because it hit children hard.

"It’s important to keep our children as safe as possible," she said.

Monique Parsons, of Baiting Hollow, remains unconvinced a COVID-19 vaccine is safe for young children and won't ever get it for her 6-month-old son.

"I worry about it being dangerous," she said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday the state is "turning the corner" on the omicron surge, but she has not decided whether to lift a mask mandate for indoor public places that expires Feb. 10.

COVID-19 positivity levels, cases and hospitalizations are all trending down, she said, with daily new cases statewide down 92% since the peak on Jan. 7, according to the state. New York logged 7,119 cases on Monday, including 470 cases in Nassau and 684 in Suffolk.

The seven-day average for positivity on Long Island declined slightly to 7.58%. Across the state on Monday, 122 people died of causes linked to the virus, including four in Nassau and nine in Suffolk.

The governor on Monday won a victory when the state Appellate Court ruled that the mandates can stay in place until at least March 2 as the appeals process plays out.

The schools mask mandate expires Feb. 21, when Hochul can either renew it or let it lapse.

On Tuesday morning, several hundred people in Mineola protested the extension of the school mask mandate. The crowd, which included dozens of children, carried signs and chanted "let them breathe."

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the crowd "wouldn’t take another month of our kids being masked against the choice of their parents" though he later urged his supporters not to break the law and to comply with the regulation.

With AP

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