Covid boosters for under 5's

[Susie]

DS finished his primary series on 8/5, so we're coming up on 6 months now, and I am looking into getting him a bivalent booster.

For his primary series, we opted for Moderna.  We had to drive an hour or so to get dose 1, but a month later for dose 2, availability was loosening up and we were able to get it in our home metro area pretty easily. 

It seems like Moderna is even harder to find appointments now than it was 6 months ago.  We're back to options an hour+ away, depending on flexibility on date/time.  We're stuck with that, right?  It looks like little kids with a Moderna primary series can only receive a Moderna bivalent booster, and the Pfizer bivalent vaccine for this age group is only available as part of a Pfizer primary series.  Am I understanding that right?  

I feel like I have run out of steam on staying on top of vaccine updates for each of adults, 6-11, and under 5.  

[mpm]

Yes, right now mixing and matching is not allowed for under age 5. There was also some data presented this week that showed Moderna performing a little better than Pfizer, so I’d stick with Moderna for that reason too.

[sdlaura]

It was such an ordeal just to get my 2-year-old his second shot, we haven’t even done the third yet. It bothers me how the media paints parents as being hesitant to vaccinate their little kids. That may be part of it, but it also is way harder to find someone who will provide the COVID vaccine to them vs other vaccines.

Our large blue state pediatrics practice isn’t doing COVID vaccines because they don’t want to waste any if there aren’t enough kids on a given day, and the larger health system was only doing Moderna. We got his first one at a CVS minute clinic and it was Pfizer - then they stopped giving them for under 5s. Eventually I found like a concierge medicine type place 30 minutes away that would give him Pfizer. It was pretty clear they weren’t used to vaccinated toddlers - thank goodness he was easygoing about it.

[felicity]

We were told the same thing about not mixing and matching the booster for under five. I also had a hard time finding a place to get the Moderna bivalent ended up having to drive to a random pharmacy kinda far from me to get it.

[pinkplasticdoll]

Doss the county health department have the shots? All the ones in my metro area have moderna at the county clinics. We are sticking with moderna as it performs better but there isn't mixing matching approved for under 5 anyway.

[Susie]

Jan 28, 2023 17:15:44 GMT -5 pinkplasticdoll said:

Doss the county health department have the shots? All the ones in my metro area have moderna at the county clinics. We are sticking with moderna as it performs better but there isn't mixing matching approved for under 5 anyway.

vaccines.gov says no, and I'm inclined to believe it based on past experience getting vaccines from, and volunteering with our county DOH.  The nearest county health department that has it is several counties away, and a retail pharmacy is closer.  Our pedi only has Pfizer so they can't help either.

Looks like another 2 hour RT road trip to a Walgreens that has it.  Bummer.  I mean, we can do it, and last summer we were thrilled to have the opportunity to do it, and I have to keep that in mind.  But to someone's point upthread... seriously, they are not making this easy on parents on parents of under-5s!  

[waverly]

Susie, sorry you all are running into this. My kids were in the 5-11 age range, and we did first available, so we did Pfizer for them.