Doctor urges parents to get young kids vaccinated with updated COVID booster

Next week, the Washington State Department of Health will start giving out updated COVID boosters to young children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the bivalent vaccine yesterday, and the state is waiting a couple of days before starting to roll out the shots.

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KIRO 7 spoke with a doctor who said he understands it may be tough to keep track of who’s eligible for what vaccine and what you’ve already received — but this one is simpler.

“What I want to emphasize to parents is if they have kids under 5, none of them have this new bivalent vaccine,” said Dr. John Dunn with Kaiser Permanente Washington. “All of them should get it because it will do a better job protecting them.”

Dunn also reiterated that the vaccine is not new. Similar to the flu shot, the vaccine is the same but contains a different strain of the virus.

“This is great news that infants and young children can now get the updated bivalent booster, which offers better protection against omicron subvariants,” said Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, MD, MPH and Chief Science Officer of the Washington State DOH. “We encourage everyone 6 months and older to get up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines and boosters as well as the seasonal flu shot, in order to keep yourself and those around you safe and to reduce the pressure on our severely stressed hospital system.”

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