On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s coronavirus vaccines for children as young as 6 months. Shots should be available next week, which will provide some parents a long overdue tool to protect their children from covid.
It also will likely go unused by most American parents. This latter group, which will likely not seek out a coronavirus vaccine for their young children, deserves closer attention, not least of all because their hesitancy represents a change in how parents make health care decisions for their children. Rather than offering generic assurances that vaccines are important, those who hope to convince them to vaccinate their children will need to meet them where they are, respond to their actual concerns, and acknowledge the uncertainties alongside the benefits of these vaccines.