COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than 5 are rolling out this week. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on the shots' safety and efficacy. Like with any vaccine, though, it's possible kids may experience a few side effects.

The safety data from Moderna and Pfizer, vetted by the FDA and CDC, found potential side effects were mostly mild and short-lived.

For parents and caregivers planning to get their little ones vaccinated, pediatricians say there are a few things to watch out for — generally the same effects adults or older children might have experienced after their shots.

Most vaccine side effects are mild, short-lived

"In general, I think the most common side effects from either of the vaccines are still the most common side effects we see from pretty much any child that gets any vaccine," said Dr. Grant Paulsen, the principal site investigator for the Pfizer and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials for kids 6 months to 11 years old at Cincinnati Children's.

Side effects most commonly included pain at the injection site, and sometimes there was swelling or redness.

"Those are all what I would classify as pretty common side effects that most parents that have taken their children to the doctor to get their various hepatitis and tetanus vaccines and all that kind of stuff were probably pretty used to," Paulsen said.

As far as systemic or body-wide symptoms, the most common was fatigue or sleepiness. Some children had irritability or fussiness, loss of appetite, headache, abdominal pain or discomfort, enlarged lymph nodes, mild diarrhea or vomiting. But everyone got better quickly.

"It's very similar to the side effects we've seen for older kids or for adults. About 24 hours of some kids, you know, they kind of don't feel as well, they feel tired, they don't have the same appetite. But thankfully, there have not been any serious side effects of these vaccines," Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator said on CBS on Monday. "And again, after giving these vaccines to millions of children, it's really reassuring to know that for young kids these vaccines are exceedingly safe."

Side effects were mild to moderate and were far less frequent with this young age group than with older ages, Paulsen said.

"My big picture for parents is really [that] the side effects should not be alarming," Paulsen said.

Potential for fever

Kids were slightly more prone to get a fever with the Moderna vaccine; it happened with about a quarter of the trial participants, versus less than 10% with Pfizer. Most of the fevers were mild. Less than 1% of all participants in the trial had a fever that reached 104 degrees.

"That was rare, but I feel like if we're not honest with parents, when these things come out, that will be concerning," Paulsen said.

Because fevers were not common, Paulsen does not recommend pre-treating a child by giving them a fever-reducing medicine before the shot.

If the child develops a fever, he said, parents can give ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

"The odds are, most children are just going to do fine and have really minimal problems," he said.

No cases of myocarditis

The scientists who conducted trials on the youngest children were also watching closely to see if any of the children had problems with myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, because there were a handful of cases among older children and adults. In most of those cases, the symptoms went away quickly.

But myocarditis was not found to be a problem in the trials in young children.

"Of course, we have all the mechanisms in place once we start vaccinating kids next week. If we start seeing it, all those bells and whistles will go off and bring our attention to it," said Dr. Claudia Hoyen, director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. "But we are not expecting to see that. We didn't really see it in kids who were 5 to 11, either."

'An extra layer of protection'

Because children get severe COVID-19 less frequently than adults, some parents may wonder if they should bother to get their little ones vaccinated. COVID-19, however, has been "quite common" in children, Jha said. He said almost 70% of kids have been infected at some point, but they can always get it again -- and even if it was mild the first time, that doesn't mean it will be the next time.

"Still worth getting the vaccine, it really offers an extra level of protection, an extra layer of protection. What vaccines do is they keep kids out of the hospital, and that's why they are so effective and everybody deserves that protection," Jha said.

Dr. Suchitra Rao says it's important to keep in mind that COVID-19 is now one of the vaccine-preventable diseases with the highest mortality rate.

"If we look at this age group, we will see that Covid has killed more than 200 6-month to 5-year-olds since January of 2020. And if we want to compare that to something like flu, those numbers are actually higher than what we've been seeing annually for all kids under the age of 18 for influenza," said Rao, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado.

"We're getting routine vaccines against measles and against pneumococcal disease and meningitis. That this is something that's actually causing more deaths," she added. "Safety in this younger age group is actually quite, quite good and better than other groups, even."

Rao said some parents have asked her if they should be concerned about long-term side effects. She reassures them that if there were any, they would have shown up in the clinical trials.

"The FDA and then the [CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices], and all of these governing groups that make those recommendations really do an excellent job evaluating the safety and the effectiveness and go through all of the manufacturing data of these vaccines, and it's such a rigorous and comprehensive review," Rao said. "I think the fact that it took a little bit longer for the agency to authorize these shots in these younger kids is really telling, because they just had to make absolutely sure since this is such a vulnerable group."

Parent questions welcome

While Dr. Nina Alfieri, a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, has seen a lot of interest in COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest children, she knows parents will want to know about vaccine safety.

This year, Lurie did a survey of 5,000 Chicago parents to find out where they stood on the COVID-19 vaccine. Side effects were among their top concerns.

"It makes sense. You want to make sure what you're doing for your kids is safe," Alfieri said.

Alfieri said she hopes caregivers will be sure to ask their pediatrician questions to ease any worries.

"I really love when families come to me and they tell me they are a little bit unsure, because it gives us an opportunity to really sit down face to face, in a safe environment, and talk about their concerns," she said.

"There's going to be a lot of conversation the next couple of months, and I think all of us pediatricians are ready for it, and we're welcoming this kind of conversation because overall, this is a really exciting time for us. Because finally, this vulnerable and very young age group who has kind of been left out of one of the best protective measures is now going to be eligible to be protected."

Many traditional books are being replaced by e-books in school.

Nearly 60% of teachers say they utilize e-books because they are less expensive and more accessible than many paper books.

However, there is a major drawback to the use of e-books.

A study suggests teenagers who read traditional books had higher test scores than those who read books on a device.

"Reading from paper is more efficient, meaning that you can understand more in the same amount of time than reading from screens," said Virginia Clinton-Lisell, Ph.D., of the University of North Dakota.

Experts say parents should opt for paper books when they can, but they stress that any type of reading is better than none at all.

"Reading is good. If your kid likes to read from an e-reader, that's awesome. Encourage it as much as possible," Clinton-Lisell said.

An Iowa boy is using his artwork to raise awareness and money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Arsh Pal started painting when he was 8 years old, and his work has taken off since then. He started selling his canvas paintings and donating all of the proceeds to St. Jude — he said he wants to help kids with cancer."Originally, my first goal was raising $1,000 for St. Jude Research Hospital and everybody kind of doubted me because I was so young, but when I did raise $1,000 everybody was surprised," the 12-year-old from Dubuque said.Related video: President Biden lays out plan to cut cancer deaths in half within next 25 yearsOver the past four years, Pal has raised more than $15,000. He was also honored with the Diana Award for his efforts.

When everything came to a screeching halt at the beginning of the pandemic, parents had no choice but to start in-home care. Ever since, childcare facilities have been facing many changes and trials trying to get back to pre-pandemic levels of children and staff.

Sunset Academy is one of the hundreds of thousands of childcare facilities across the nation that hit a major roadblock at the start of the pandemic. Director Samantha Emmer says Sunset Academy reopened after two months, but with very few kids and teachers.

"We went from actually being at an enrollment of 120 students, which is full capacity, to 27 when we reopened," Emmer said.

Emily Bustos leads Denver's Early Childhood Council, a nonprofit that is part of a national network called Child Care Aware of America.

"We all work to do systemic change in early childhood, as well as provide governmental grants, funding, coaching and training to early-learning providers," Bustos said. "[The pandemic] has been really rough on childcare providers. We did see some sites closing permanently after the pandemic. And right now, what we're experiencing is more of a workforce shortage crisis, if you will, around having enough qualified teachers to actually open, reopen classrooms or keep them open."

She says the best way to attract teachers is to offer a living wage and career pathways to grow. That's exactly what Emmer says they had to do at Sunset Academy.

"We would provide things like sign-on bonuses," Emmer said. "We provided opportunity for staff to be able to reach their credential of becoming a lead teacher if they reached that credential during a certain time period. We would give them another extra bonus, and so that would help us to retain them and it would give them a solid job as well."

However, paying teachers more means parents must pay more.

"The cost of child care was already unaffordable for many families, especially if they have more than one child," Bustos said. "The pandemic has sort of increased that challenge in that there again are fewer teachers, but really there is a movement to pay them more of a living wage."

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, childcare providers made an average of $12.40 an hour in the year 2021. Bustos says the industry needs more public investment.

"I think, in general, there's a broad need for recognition of early learning services as essential for working parents, and I think we need to engage with the business community," Bustos said.

Bustos says incentive for well-trained educators is especially important due to kids returning with greater social-emotional needs.

"There's a lot more challenging behaviors that we're finding amongst the little ones," Emmer said. "So just being able to teach them and to show them positive ways of interacting with one another now, because they didn't have that, you know, some families had one child, no siblings. That child was at home alone. They didn't learn those social-emotional ways."

Emmer says there were a few benefits to the pandemic. It gave Sunset Academy an opportunity to restructure and now they're working toward becoming an English-Spanish bilingual school. She says it also helped parents to feel more sympathetic toward providers after child care was temporarily taken away.

"It can be emotionally draining sometimes," Emmer said. "Of course, it's very rewarding, but it is a lot. I think that they have a little bit of more appreciation, gratitude and understanding at what early childcare teachers really do."
 

The COVID-19 pandemic sent Heidi Whitney’s daughter into a tailspin.

Suddenly the San Diego middle schooler was sleeping all day and awake all night. When in-person classes resumed, she was so anxious at times that she begged to come home early, telling the nurse her stomach hurt.

Whitney tried to keep her daughter in class. But the teen’s desperate bids to get out of school escalated. Ultimately, she was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward, failed “pretty much everything” at school and was diagnosed with depression and ADHD.

As she started high school this fall, she was deemed eligible for special education services, because her disorders interfered with her ability to learn, but school officials said it was a close call. It was hard to know how much her symptoms were chronic or the result of mental health issues brought on by the pandemic, they said.

“They put my kid in a gray area,” said Whitney, a paralegal.

Schools contending with soaring student mental health needs and other challenges have been struggling to determine just how much the pandemic is to blame. Are the challenges the sign of a disability that will impair a student’s learning long term, or something more temporary?

It all adds to the desperation of parents trying to figure out how best to help their children. If a child doesn’t qualify for special education, where should parents go for help?

“I feel like because she went through the pandemic and she didn’t experience the normal junior high, the normal middle school experience, she developed the anxiety, the deep depression and she didn’t learn. She didn’t learn how to become a social kid,” Whitney said. “Everything got turned on its head.”

Schools are required to spell out how they will meet the needs of students with disabilities in Individualized Education Programs, and the demand for screening is high. Some schools have struggled to catch up with assessments that were delayed in the early days of the pandemic. For many, the task is also complicated by shortages of psychologists.

To qualify for special education services, a child’s school performance must be suffering because of a disability in one of 13 categories, according to federal law. They include autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities like dyslexia, developmental delays and “emotional disturbances.”

It’s important not to send children who might have had a tough time during the pandemic into the special education system, said John Eisenberg, the executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

“That’s not what it was designed for,” he said. “It’s really designed for kids who need specially designed instruction. It’s a lifelong learning problem, not a dumping ground for kids that might have not got the greatest instruction during the pandemic or have major other issues.”

In the 2020-2021 school year, about 15% of all public school students received special education services under federal law, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Among kids ages 6 and older, special education enrollment rose by 2.4% compared with the previous school year, according to federal data. The figures also showed a large drop in enrollment for younger, preschool-age students, many of whom were slow to return to formal schooling. The numbers varied widely from state to state. No data is available yet for last year.

While some special education directors worry the system is taking on too many students, advocates are hearing the opposite is happening, with schools moving too quickly to dismiss parent concerns.

Even now, some children are still having evaluations pushed off because of staffing shortages, said Marcie Lipsitt, a special education advocate in Michigan. In one district, evaluations came to a complete halt in May because there was no school psychologist to do them, she said.

When Heather Wright approached her son’s school last fall seeking help with the 9-year-old’s outbursts and other behavioral issues, staff suggested private testing. The stay-at-home mom from Sand Creek, Michigan, called eight places. The soonest she could get an appointment was in December of this year — a full 14 months later.

She also suspects her 16-year-old has a learning disability and is waiting for answers from the school about both children.

“I hear a lot of: ‘Well, everyone’s worse. It’s not just yours,’” she said. “Yeah, but, like, this is my child and he needs help.”

It can be challenging to tease out the differences between problems that stem directly from the pandemic and a true disability, said Brandi Tanner, an Atlanta-based psychologist who has been deluged with parents seeking evaluations for potential learning disabilities, ADHD and autism.

“I’m asking a lot more background questions about pre-COVID versus post-COVID, like, ‘Is this a change in functioning or was it something that was present before and has just lingered or gotten worse?’” she said.

Sherry Bell, a leader in the Department of Exceptional Children at Charleston County School District in South Carolina, said she is running into the issue as well.

“In my 28 years in special education, you know, having to rule out all of those factors is much more of a consideration than ever before, just because of the pandemic and the fact that kids spent all of that time at home,” said Bell.

The key is to have good systems in place to distinguish between a student with a lasting obstacle to learning and one that missed a lot of school because of the pandemic, said Kevin Rubenstein, president-elect of the Council of Administrators of Special Education.

“Good school leaders and great teachers are going to be able to do that,” he said.

The federal government, he noted, has provided vast amounts of COVID relief money for schools to offer tutoring, counseling and other support to help students recover from the pandemic.

But advocates worry about consequences down the line for students who do not receive the help they might need. Kids who slip through the cracks could end up having more disciplinary problems and diminished prospects for life after school, said Dan Stewart, the managing attorney for education and employment for the National Disability Rights Network.

Whitney, for her part, said she is relieved her daughter is getting help, including a case manager, as part of her IEP. She also will be able to leave class as needed if she feels anxious.

“I realize that a lot of kids were going through this,” she said. “We just went through COVID. Give them a break.”

ByHeart has voluntarily recalled five batches of its infant formula due to the potential cross-contamination with Cronobacter sakazakii.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Cronobacter bacteria can cause sepsis or meningitis. It may also cause bowel damage, the FDA warns.

The recall was made out of an abundance of caution as there have been no reports of illness linked to the baby formula.

The recalled products were sold in 24 oz. containers with a label that says Whole Nutrition Infant Formula, Milk Based Powder with Iron. The formula is for infants 0-12 months.

Consumers should check under the can for recalled batch numbers 22273 C1, 22276 C1, 22277 C1, 22278 C1, and 22280 C1 that are printed with use by 01 JAN 24 or 01JUL 24 date.

"If a baby has already consumed all of the formula, there is no reason for concern, and no additional action is needed," a statement on the FDA's website states. It adds that parents should contact their child's pediatrician with any concerns.

NEW YORK (AP) — Love her or loathe her, Barbie has been transformed again, this time into a version for children as young as 3.

Gone is the contentious hourglass figure for My First Barbie, which launched Thursday ahead of July's live-action film about the icon starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

The slightly softer-bodied Barbie follows on the high heels of tall, petite and curvy iterations that were released five years ago in a massive makeover.

My First Barbie is 13.5 inches tall, 2 inches taller than traditional Babs, with a larger waist that de-emphasizes the bust line (it remains in place, however), and flesh-tone modesty undergarments permanently attached.

Her fashion is more kid-like, with playful heart, star and flower designs on jammies and flouncy preschool-friendly dresses and swim gear. Her accessories are larger for littler hands, and her hair is extra long for easier brushing.

My First Barbie's limbs are moveable, like some past versions of the doll, and her facial features remain recognizable. A huge milestone: Her fingers and thumbs are connected, eliminating a frequent complaint that Barbie's hands get caught in her clothes when children try to put them on.

Lisa McKnight, a Mattel executive vice president and global head of Barbie and dolls, told The Associated Press the company created the new version in response to feedback from parents.

“We talk to parents and kids almost 365 days a year,” she said. “We started hearing a theme around younger kids wanting to play with Barbie. Parents were concerned that their children at the preschool age didn’t have the fine motor skills to have a positive play experience with our traditional fashion doll.”

The first rollout of the new doll includes four diverse skin tones and hair textures.

Critics of 63-year-old Barbie, intended to symbolize a girl in her late teens, have long cited her dimensions as promoting unattainable, sexualized body standards for girls. My First Barbie, at a price point of $19.99, goes a long way in eliminating that issue.

McKnight wouldn’t directly address the criticism or whether My First Barbie has a place in turning around that negative view.

Research is mixed on whether Barbie's bad rap on body issues and her adult-leaning fashion sense have any impact on children, said Jody LeVos, once a leader of Mattel's child development and learning team and now chief learning officer for Begin, a company that creates learning apps and other educational fare for kids.

Among parents, she said, “there's a big nostalgia factor” when it comes to Barbie.

“I don’t think there's one specific doll that’s most appropriate. I think doll play allows children to really practice storytelling skills, perspective taking and social interactions,” LeVos said.

The Barbie line’s overall sales have soared in recent years after a period of decline in 2013.

Joaniko Kohchi, director for Adelphi University’s Institute for Parenting, questioned Mattel's motives.

“If we’re going to think about Mattel guiding our choices then we have already kind of limited them,” she said.

McKnight made it clear that My First Barbie will not be a separate, parallel Barbie universe. She said new content featuring the doll will hit Barbie's YouTube channel later this month, with an animated special about the planning of a surprise party.

Andrea Werner, a pediatric occupational therapist in West Hartford, Connecticut, and mother of a preschooler and an infant, supports doll play as developmentally valuable.

“There are plenty of dolls on the market,” she said. “Companies will always be trying to sell consumers the next best thing.”

Kohchi isn't entirely sold on My First Barbie as appropriate.

“We know that if you’re going to hand a child an image and say, this is beauty or this is wonderful or look how pretty that is, it should resemble the child a little bit more closely,” she said. “It’s certainly still a little older than a preschooler.”

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. —

The Nebraska State Patrol said a 13-year-old girl led troopers on a high-speed chase on Monday night.

Her passenger was an 11-year-old boy, according to authorities.

The state patrol said they were the only two people in a Nissan Pathfinder traveling about 35 mph on Interstate 80 near Kearney.

When a trooper tried to stop the vehicle, investigators said the 13-year-old girl sped away.

She hit more than 100 mph before the patrol said they put stop-sticks in her path.

Troopers had to use a tactical maneuver to end the chase after about 12 miles, according to authorities.

The kids, both from Colorado, also had a gun and a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle. The juveniles were placed in protective custody.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its recommendations on what kids should be eating after conducting a survey focused on the consumption of fruits, vegetables and drinks sweetened with sugar.

The health agency asked three questions about children between one of five years, requesting that participating households reveal how often vegetables, fruits and drinks with sugar are consumed by children, and how much they had consumed during the previous week.

The CDC said households are "randomly sampled from the Census Bureau's Master Address File" and then they are contacted by mail to see which have at least one child or adolescent.

The CDC found that in 2021 at least 32.1% of children between one and five did not eat fruit on a daily basis and that 49.1% did not eat vegetables during the entire week before the survey was conducted. 57.1% of those questioned had a drink sweetened with sugar, according to the responses given to the CDC at that time.

David Goldman/AP

2.4% of the respondents did not answer at least one item and were excluded from the findings.

The CDC indicated that many children do not have enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, but they were regularly consuming sugary drinks.

According to the agency's data, out of 20 U.S. states, over half of the children from those states did not eat a vegetable daily during the entire week before the survey, according to responses.

Out of children from 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, over half of those kids consumed a sugary drink at least once in the week before the survey.

Two sisters from Iowa are being recognized as heroes for their quick thinking after saving two kids who fell through the ice in a pond behind an apartment building.

Fifteen-year-old Jasmine Morris and 17-year-old Jacora Morris were scrolling through TikTok when they happened to look out their third-story window at the right time.

Watch the full story in the video player above.

"I immediately screamed, 'They're drowning! They're drowning!' And then me and my sister, we ran downstairs. The dog chased us. We were falling down the stairs to get back here," Jasmine said.

"I just stopped what I was doing. I just got up, and I was just running out. I was just in shoes, shorts and a tank top," Jacora said.

The Morris sisters jumped into the icy water to help the kids.

"I am numb, and those kids, they have been in there longer than me, so they have got to be numb. At some point, they were going to just stop moving. And I didn't want them to stop moving, so it was just, come on! Get them out. You can get out later, just get them out is all I was thinking," Jasmine said.

One boy was trapped underneath the ice with only a finger above the surface.

"I grabbed his middle finger and that is how I pulled him up and we got him up there. He was kind of heavy too, honey! I got him though," Jacora said.

The sisters turned into heroes in seconds.

"You could see the relief and the happiness that he was out of the water and both of them were safe," Jasmine said.

The rescue happened so quickly, medics didn't get there until it was over.

"I was amazed. Not many children would drop what they are doing, or adults, and just run out and wade into water up to their shoulders to pull two other kids out," West Des Moines EMS Division Chief Doug Harms said.

Jasmine and Jacora's mom, Jaqueline Morris, said all those years of swimming lessons paid off.

"I am very proud! I don't even have the words to say. Wow, those were my girls," Jaqueline Morris said.

Jasmine and Jacora don't want praise. They are just overjoyed at the outcome.

"I am just happy they're OK," Jasmine said.

So what did the girls learn about themselves through all this?

"That I have quick reaction skills! And when I have a sense to look up and do something, I need to look up," Jasmine said.

The city of West Des Moines plans to recognize the sisters with a lifesaving award at a later date.

After Dr. Felicity Fishman finishes a surgery, there's one final touch that makes her process unique.

"We've done some great baby yodas ... a lot of dinosaurs," said Doctor Fishman, a hand and upper extremity surgeon at Shriners Children's Chicago.

All of the art is drawn with special, safe markers.

"Really it only takes 10 to 15 minutes and we're very conscientious about that," Dr. Fishman said.

"The cost of the pens and a little time is really inconsequential when you get to see the kids almost enjoy the experience," she said.

Dr. Fishman has been doing this for a couple years now with the help of nurses and the rest of her surgery team.

She originally got the idea after her fellowship, where her mentor used glitter to personalize casts after surgeries. One of her fellows recommended buying pens that might work on a cast. She's now been doing these special drawings for a couple years.

"Surgery is scary when you are the patient, and when you're a child and a lot of those decisions are being made for you, it's nice to have something in which they can be included, so they can take back a little bit of control on that day," Dr. Fishman said.

Popular TV characters, snowmen, trains, you name it. Dr. Fishman has expanded the artistic possibilities for kids.

"Learning all the different types of dinosaurs because these kids are very knowledgeable, not just any dinosaur will do. It has to be the specific type they want," she said.

"It's definitely gotten more intricate as we've gone on, as kids' requests have become even more specialized," Dr. Fishman said.

The outbreak of COVID-19 presented many dangers for children, and a new study suggests increased illicit substance ingestions were among them.

Video above: Further COVID-19 booster protection to be available to 65 and older, and vulnerable Americans

In the first month of the pandemic in 2020, a 25% increase in overall ingestions occurred among children under 6 years old in the United States, according to the study published Friday in JAMA Network Open.

Those numbers grew by 1.8% more per month than they did before the pandemic, the study said.

"The immediate and sustained increase in opioids ingestions occurred during the largest ever rise in adult overdose deaths, largely driven by synthetic opioids," lead study author Dr. Brittany Raffa, a clinical instructor in pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a National Research Service Award primary care research fellow said.

The study looked at data from 7,659 children under age 6 who were treated for ingestion of amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, ethanol and opioids across 46 children's hospitals, the study said.

"This is an important study, with a clear indication of the ongoing and elevated risk of drug and alcohol ingestions for young children in the US," Dr. James Dodington, associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine said. Dodington was not involved in the study.

More research would be needed to know why ingestions by children went up, but the study stressed a need to identify interventions around parental mental health, offer substance treatment services, provide accessible childcare and educate adults about storing substances.

"Families were left without adequate child supervision with most childcare centers and schools closed or virtual (during the early part of the pandemic)," Raffa said in an email. "As overall stress and parental substance use increased, substance use treatment centers and mental health care were disrupted."

"Notably, the cannabis and opioid ingestion elevations are stark, and this study points to the need to develop more comprehensive childhood ingestion prevention strategies," Dodington said,

Those ingestions that rose in children were similar to substances that appear to have increased in usage by adults in the pandemic, although some research has differing information on drug use trends, Dr. Danielle Ompad, professor of epidemiology at New York University said. Ompad was not involved in the study.

The results could be skewed if healthcare providers were on the lookout for ingestions, Dodington added.

"Given the increase in opioid and cannabis use across the US, healthcare providers may be testing more often for children, and we may be detecting a greater number of ingestions," he said in an email.

As concerning as these ingestions can be, Ompad noted that there's not any information on where or how they happened — so, the public should not be quick to blame parents or caregivers.

There was no association between medicinal or recreational cannabis legalization and the rate of cannabis ingestion encounters.

Safer storage

Ingesting drugs and alcohol are particularly dangerous for young children, Dodington said.

When it comes to edible marijuana products, a single snack could have several times the recommended adult dose of THC, Dr. Brian Johnston, an executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Injury, Violence and Poisoning Prevention, said in a 2021 CNN article.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces a high sensation.

"Anyone who eats one of these products — especially a child — can experience overdose effects such as intoxication, altered perception, anxiety, panic, paranoia, dizziness, weakness, slurred speech, poor coordination, or even breathing and heart problems," Johnston said, who was not involved in this week's study.

Researchers and policymakers need to take action to prevent ingestions and educate and support parents and guardians about the risks to children, Dodington said.

And along with mental health and addiction interventions, education efforts should focus on safe storage — especially of edibles, he said.

Ideally, people living with or visited by children should not store drugs at home or in a place where youngsters have access to, Ompad said.

If you do use drugs and store them at home, make sure they are locked up when children are around and are in a childproof-container or safe, she added.

"This is particularly true for cannabis edibles or any other drug that looks like food or sweets — they are tempting to kids," Ompad said.

Video above: Further COVID-19 Booster Protection to Be Available to 65 and Older, and Vulnerable Americans

• A new COVID-19 subvariant, known as XBB.1.16 but often called "Arcturus," has progressively become more viral here in the United States, accounting for 10% of infections through late April.
• Healthcare professionals have indicated that itchy conjunctivitis may be associated with this particular subvariant, though COVID-19 has previously been linked to eye infections.
• Doctors are independently reporting a rise in red, itchy eyes in children affected by XBB.1.16, a trait that has not been associated with previous Omicron subvariants.
• Federal health agents have not confirmed eye infections as a common COVID-19 symptom.

---

Just as federal health regulators have released additional booster vaccines to at-risk Americans, doctors across the globe are raising concerns about a new SARS-CoV-2 variant that has the potential to trigger elevated COVID-19 spread this spring. Known officially as subvariant XBB.1.16 — but quickly picking up a moniker of "Arcturus" among media and healthcare professionals alike — this Omicron subvariant is increasingly being traced back to new COVID-19 cases here in the United States, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

First detected back in January, this subvariant has generated headlines in India, where it has triggered a majority of new COVID-19 cases (including potent breakthrough illnesses) and has particularly impacted the nation's youth.

The World Health Organization designated XBB.1.16 as a "variant under monitoring" in late March, indicating Arcturus may demonstrate a "growth advantage relative to other circulating variants." Since then, the variant has been uncovered in more than 30 nations across the world — with CDC agents including it in its variant tracking in mid-April, illustrating that Arcturus is responsible for nearly 10% of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. That number is likely underreported, as a majority of COVID-19 patients don't ever find out which SARS strain they've been infected with.

Many U.S. hospitals were able to avoid a catastrophic surge in COVID-19 cases this winter thanks to updated bivalent vaccines, and as of late April, there isn't concern about a rise in COVID-19 infection rates anytime soon. But healthcare authorities are still worried about XBB.1.16 for a few reasons — including a potential new symptom that is a major departure from the upper respiratory symptoms that recent strains have presented.

What to know about the "Arcturus" COVID-19 variant

Previous sub-variants linked to Omicron have been noted to be viral and severe, but XBB.1.16 cases thus far haven't caused healthcare providers to be concerned about an uptick in severe illnesses, hospitalizations or deaths in the weeks to come. And unlike earlier variants, most healthcare agencies are projecting that Arcturus isn't expected to spark a major uptick in new cases. In fact, most of the characteristics of this variant are similar to XBB.1.5, which is still responsible for the bulk of the current cases here in the U.S.

"COVID cases are declining nationwide, with 98% of counties now listed in the Low Community Level [of risk] as of last week," explains Charles C.J. Bailey, M.D., the medical director for infection prevention at Providence St. Joseph Hospital and Providence Mission Hospital in Southern California. "Although XBB sub-variants are currently predominant, they represent the largest slice of a markedly smaller pie, compared to earlier periods of the pandemic… The risk of getting COVID of any type is currently low."

Rather, evidence of the spread of the Arcturus variant (particularly overseas in India, where WHO officials say it's the prominent strain) indicates that this particular subvariant may spread more easily compared to its predecessors — which has some experts concerned about the potential for an increase in U.S. spread later this spring and summer, even if overall infection rates are down.

What's most concerning about Arcturus is largely the discussion around a noticeable trend being documented in India surrounding a potential new eye health symptom that some attribute to SARS-CoV-2 infections. Many reports highlight insight shared by a local pediatrician and WHO interest group member that suggests "itchy conjunctivitis" or pink eye could correspond to the subvariant, especially in children.

Eye-related symptoms, including itchiness, discharge or pink eye have yet to be directly associated with COVID-19 spread thus far — and healthcare professionals including Shira Doron, M.D., epidemiologist and chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine health system, say this potential XBB.1.16 symptom hasn't been confirmed with peer-reviewed research or by any federal health group.

"It is unlikely that this is true," Doron told Good Housekeeping.

But the possibility isn't entirely out of the question, adds Dr. Bailey: "[A change in symptoms] would not be unusual and has been seen already with COVID, as later variants seem less likely to be associated with loss of taste and smell than initial COVID cases — and the overall severity of Omicron sub-variants is noticeably less than with the Delta variant."

Is there a link between COVID-19 and pink eye?

Federal health officials at the CDC have not yet formally linked pink eye or any eye-related health condition to COVID-19 in listing it as an official symptom. But more doctors are acknowledging the prevalence of pink eye and eye-related discharge, itch in the form of anecdotal evidence, including testimony from Matthew Binnicker, M.D., the director of the Mayo Clinic's Clinical Virology Laboratory; Dr. Binnicker shared this week that care providers are seeing a rise in red, itchy eyes in children affected by SARS infections.

The idea that COVID-19 can trigger an eye infection, namely conjunctivitis, isn't entirely new — there has been published research that indicates that the development of COVID-19 may trigger pink eye in some individuals. A 2021 case presentation published in the Qatar Medical Journal indicated that in extremely rare cases, pink eye may be the "only sign and symptom of COVID-19" for otherwise sick individuals.

Furthermore, diagnosis materials published by the American Academy of Ophthalmology for its professionals indicate that pink eye may manifest in patients after an initial SARS infection.

But red, itchy eyes are common this time of year due to seasonal allergies, making it crucial to be able to spot early signs of pink eye — and monitor yourself for other well-documented COVID-19 symptoms to better determine if you're really sick.

"Setting aside the possibility that COVID is a common cause of conjunctivitis, an infected eye can be hard to distinguish from an allergic one," Dr. Doron adds, with one distinction. "Crusty and goopy eyes are usually more likely to be infected, and very itchy ones are usually allergy-related."

It's highly unlikely that pink eye will be an issue for a majority of those who are unlucky enough to develop a breakthrough COVID-19 infection this spring. If anything, monitoring eye health may be more important for children and other youth and their parents, based on the bulk of case data generated overseas.

"Exposed adults may or may not manifest this symptom in the end, just as the same common cold virus moving through a family may have different symptoms in each member of the household," Dr. Bailey said.

While most can't say with certainty whether or not Arcturus leads to pink eye directly just yet, Dr. Doron clarifies that many respiratory viruses can trigger eye issues during infection; according to materials published by Johns Hopkins Medicine, a majority of conjunctivitis cases are actually caused by adenovirus, as well as more common viruses like herpes simplex.

"There are a lot of viruses going around, some with a tendency to cause pink eye/conjunctivitis, so it’s quite possible that’s what is causing the uptick of pink eye that pediatricians are reporting."

Potential XBB.1.16 symptoms

Experiencing pink eye as the only symptom associated with a COVID-19 infection, including one prompted by Arcturus, would be very rare — you are more likely to experience any of the other well-documented signs of illness that are associated with COVID.

Because it has yet to become the predominant strain here in the U.S., CDC officials have yet to name any particular subset of symptoms as directly correlated with the XBB.1.16 variant. Just like its predecessor, XBB.1.5, any combination or severity of commonly reported COVID symptoms are possible in the early days of an illness.

According to CDC officials, these are potential symptoms to monitor if you believe you are sick:

• Fever
• Body chills
• Chronic cough
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Nasal congestion or runny nose
• Fatigue
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing
• New loss of taste or smell

Most of these symptoms may be mistaken for seasonal illness or the flu — but the quickest way to determine whether or not you have been impacted is to seek out a rapid COVID-19 test.

The bottom line

It's unclear if pink eye or itchy conjunctivitis is truly more commonly associated with infections caused by the XBB.1.16 variant — though itchy, infected eyes can indeed be triggered by COVID-19.

"We can't use anecdotes to determine whether there is, in fact, a predilection for certain variants to cause certain symptoms," Dr. Doron explains. "In general, that is not the case, except that Omicron — and all subvariants — is less likely than previous mutations to be associated with lung involvement, and thus is less severe."

Experiencing one, two or a combination of any of the well-documented respiratory symptoms associated with COVID-19 should prompt you to seek out a rapid antigen test. If itchy, irritated eyes are your only symptom, you may be experiencing seasonal allergies — discharge of any kind may indicate that it may be an eye infection instead, which should prompt you to seek medical attention immediately (even if you aren't experiencing other COVID-19 symptoms).

Trends associated with XBB.1.16 are a good reminder to monitor your child's health closely as the summer season approaches, given that doctors have shared that Arcturus may impact children more significantly than adults. In any case, the best way to avoid a COVID-19 breakthrough infection or reinfection is to stay up to date on your vaccinations. Receiving a bivalent booster vaccine is crucial to protect yourself from severe COVID-19 symptoms and complications, including any likelihood of future infection caused by XBB.1.16.

The COVID-19 vaccine for kids under five is on hold again.

On Friday, the FDA said it was delaying an advisory committee meeting to review the vaccine for children six months and up.

New data from Pfizer indicates while the vaccine appears safe, it may not work well enough to meet FDA standards.

“What we see, particularly among two- to five-year-olds, the data is not so compelling in terms of it being effective," said Eyal Oren, who runs the public health program at San Diego State University. "Meaning two doses did not promote an effective or strong immuno-response in these kids."

He says FDA officials say they want to wait on a decision until there is data available about a third dose of the vaccine.

Some doctors hope a vaccine is approved soon because kids are still sick.

“The younger the child, they could have difficulty breathing as that mucus gets in the lungs," said Dr. Joe Perno, the vice president of medical affairs at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. "So breathing problems where they’re breathing fast, where it’s sucking in around their ribs, they’re panting, those types of things. Those are come see us in the emergency room right away."

He says it’s important to note how safe the vaccine has been in other age groups.

“There are over eight million kids in the U.S. alone that have received at least one dose of the vaccine over the age of five, and the safety profile is astronomical," said Perno.

The FDA hasn't said when it would review this topic again, but Pfizer said it would have data on the third dose available in April.

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline, there's growing concern about another condition that's on the rise. It's called multisystem inflammatory syndrome and it's still a risk among children who also contract COVID-19.

Most doctors will tell you we're not out of the woods yet with COVID-19. While it's encouraging to see case numbers and hospitalizations going down, doctors at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, are seeing cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome go up. It's a syndrome that takes hold after recovering from COVID-19.

“You can still develop this huge inflammatory response, you know, a few weeks later,” Children’s Mercy Hospital Dr. Angela Myers said. “Which can affect the liver, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, develop a rash and high spiking fevers,”

Myers said the syndrome didn't seem to be a problem with the delta variant, but omicron is different. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome cases have again risen to what they were before there was any vaccine available.

“Even though a young child might not have significant symptoms with a COVID-19 infection, they are at risk for developing this multisystem inflammatory syndrome later,” Myers said.

That's why doctors are pushing for more children to get vaccinated and to keep COVID-19 prevention methods in place.

Children under the age of 5 could be eligible to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month if Food and Drug Administration regulators give the OK.

So far, 22% of elementary-aged kids are fully vaccinated. That's compared to a little more than half of 12 to 17-year-olds.

Watch the video above for the full story.

About 18 million children under the age of 5 in the United States could soon be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine — but first, the child-sized shot must go through a rigorous authorization process that's taking a different path than the COVID-19 vaccines that came before.

On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had initiated a rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of data for their vaccine for children ages 6 months up to 5 years. The companies expect to complete the request for emergency use authorization soon.

It will still go through a thorough safety and efficacy review by U.S. health agencies and experts, but it's a different plan than what was expected late last year.

In December, Pfizer announced that it decided to add a third dose to the primary vaccine regimen for young children. It said the original two-dose series did not provide the expected immunity in 2- to 5-year-olds.

Still, this week's request seeks authorization for the two-dose vaccine, which could make the vaccine available sooner. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to continue testing a three-dose regimen in this younger age group and say they will submit the additional data on a third dose in the coming months.

The company decided to submit for authorization of the two-dose vaccine now "with pediatric COVID-19 cases surpassing 10 million and at the request of the FDA," it said.

"Having a safe and effective vaccine available for children in this age group is a priority for the agency and we're committed to a timely review of the data, which the agency asked Pfizer to submit in light of the recent omicron surge," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a news release.

What changed since December

In December, Pfizer said that the vaccines appeared to protect the youngest children — infants and toddlers up to 2 — at the same levels seen in teens and young adults, slashing symptoms in 90% of kids who got the shot. However, the 3-microgram dose did not produce the same immune response in 2- to 5-year-olds.

The dose for infants and young children is about one-third of the dose given to children age 5 to 11 and a tenth the size of the dose given to people 12 and older.

The company decided to expand its trial to include a third dose, rather than the two doses older children and adults receive in a primary vaccine series.

What changed between December and this week's authorization request, public health leaders said, was the omicron variant.

During the omicron surge, cases among children "spiked dramatically," the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday. There have been over 3.5 million child cases reported in January alone.

"It turns out that has actually facilitated the collection of more important additional clinical data that we did not have in December," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said at a White House COVID-19 briefing Wednesday. "Whether that changes the risk-benefit profile is what the FDA will be assessing, but there has been developments since December on the data front."

Tracking COVID-19:

• Free at-home COVID-19 tests coming for people on Medicare

• More countries are now easing COVID-19 restrictions. Here are the steps some are taking

• Spotify to add advisories to podcasts discussing COVID-19

Some suggest that the FDA may be pursing a strategy of authorizing the first two doses of a vaccine that may not offer substantial protection until after a third dose, hoping to start kids on the series even as data on third shots is still pending.

Children have a lower risk of serious outcomes from a COVID-19 infection compared with elderly or immunocompromised adults. But about 1% of children who catch COVID-19 will be hospitalized. Infections can also lead to long-term consequences in children as they do in adults, increasing the risk for diabetes, autoimmune disease and a delayed reaction to infection called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which requires hospital care.

"If the goal of the vaccine is to get baseline immunity in the kids — to prevent really bad outcomes and you're really not using the vaccine as a tool to prevent infection in the first place — two doses could do that," former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board of Pfizer, said on CBS on Sunday. "I think that may be why federal health officials are rethinking this. If, in fact, they decide to authorize this on the basis of two doses, it could be out much sooner, perhaps as early as early March."

Others agree that it could be a smart approach.

"When I was on hospital service last, there was a 7-month-old in the intensive care unit," Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told CNN. "If you can prevent that safely, and that's number one, and effectively, number two, then prevent it" with a vaccine.

Offit sits on the panel of experts that advises the FDA on its vaccine authorizations and will be one of the first to review the new data on the vaccine. The FDA's independent vaccine advisers will meet Feb. 15 to discuss the company's data on the youngest children and make a recommendation on the vaccine.

The path to authorization

To authorize COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, the FDA has previously set a bar of 50% effectiveness, meaning the shots have to prevent disease or decrease severity in at least 50% of the people who get them.

Since the data has not been released, it's unclear whether the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for younger children meets that standard after two doses.

Most experts CNN spoke with said they couldn't think of another vaccine review process quite like this.

One somewhat similar example is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized at one dose while the company tested a second, although the first dose proved sufficient to meet the FDA's authorization requirements.

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is expected to produce a "good efficacy signal" in children younger than 5, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday.

"The FDA is looking at the data very carefully, and in their typical fashion, they will be very careful in scrutinizing the data and making a recommendation of the decision based on that data," Fauci said.

That decision to go ahead and ask for the authorization, though, is still considered odd by some health experts.

"This does seem very unusual," said Dr. Eric Rubin, a member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee and assistant professor microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School.

"Regulators have to weigh risk and benefit. And in this case, we know a lot about the risks in older individuals, and they're very low, including older children," Rubin said. "It doesn't have to be that great, as long as we have something that's safe, and then a theoretical benefit could be that you are set up well for future vaccines. But having said all that, it does seem like a very unusual route to take."

Rubin thinks that with so many parents eager to get their kids vaccinated, there may also be some lobbying underway.

"FDA doesn't seem to be immune to political pressures," he said. "And I know that there are some who are saying that it would be good to get a couple doses of vaccine into kids now, in assuming that the third dose is going to be the one that makes a difference."

'We need a vaccine for kids'

Dr. Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and a member of the CDC's independent vaccine advisory board, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, also hasn't seen the data. But she too believes there may be some pressure from parents.

"There's families of kids less than 5 who are really pushing. They feel like they're the last ones that don't have access, and there's nothing available for them," Talbot said. She knows this personally, since she gets a lot of emails asking about it, too.

Talbot said her questions are around safety data and the potential benefits and risks.

She is concerned about people in the middle who aren't quite sure if they want to get their child vaccinated. Only about 3 in 10 parents say they'll get their child under 5 vaccinated against COVID-19 right away, according to survey results from the Kaiser Family Foundation that were released Tuesday.

Communication may be key to help parents understand why they should vaccinate their small children, particularly if two doses may not be as protective as three.

"The FDA is really going to have to be able to eloquently explain the decision," she said.

For his part, Dr. Jay Portnoy, a member of the FDA's advisory panel on vaccines, says he's glad to see the FDA speeding up its process.

"I'm actually relieved," said Portnoy, who's a pediatrician at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. "Right now, our hospital is filled, not all Covid patients but many COVID patients, including our intensive care unit."

Portnoy says parents are anxious and worried.

"They're forced to send their kids to school, and the schools aren't allowed to mandate masks or anything else," he said."So what is a parent to do? That's just from my perspective. It's about time. We need a vaccine for kids."

What happens after authorization

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that the administration is ready to "hit the ground running" to vaccinate young children as soon as Pfizer receives a green light from the federal government.

Zients said the U.S. has enough kid-size needles and supplies to administer the vaccines. The administration is also working with local public health partners to make thousands of locations nationwide ready to vaccinate these children.

"We know many parents are eager to get their kids the protection of the vaccine. We know others have questions. So we're working with our partners to ensure all parents have access to the facts and information they need to make the right decision," Zients said.

Pfizer has said it's testing a third dose administered eight weeks after a second dose. Data on a potential third dose, an updated authorization and third-dose rollout would come later on.

This may not be the last change to the COVID-19 vaccine schedule.

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said this week that it may be a while before scientists figure out the best vaccine schedule for children.

"What the vaccine schedule should be is much more complicated, and that may take months or even years to optimize," Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"It's probably a three-dose schedule for lots of people, but we really don't know that yet," Frieden said. "Nor do we know the right interval between doses. That's going to be with time, but we do know that vaccines are remarkably effective."

Pandemic-related learning loss will cost our children $17 trillion in lifetime income, according to a U.N.-backed report released in December 2021.

"A mounting body of evidence confirms that learning losses as a result of COVID-19 school closures are real," the report said.

In the U.S., the most significant impact is on young children.

The report found 30% of Texas third-graders tested at or above grade level for math in 2021, compared to 48% in 2019. Similar learning losses were reported in more than a half-dozen other states.

"We're concerned if we don't catch up," said Dr. Pamela Davis-Kean, a research professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. "If we don't overcome some of this, there are groups of people who probably will not be in the economic situation that they might have been in two years ago."

Davis-Kean said the abrupt shift to remote learning in spring 2020 had a negative impact on students and parents.

"Education, since the Industrial Revolution, has been in the institution of schooling. We moved it back to the home," Davis-Kean said. "The parents were the ones who had to make sure to connect the kids. They had to have the resources in the home to connect the kids."

Parents and legislators alike are eager to close the learning gap.

The American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in early 2021, included $122 billion in funding for schools.

At least 20% of the money had to be spent "to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs," according to a U.S. Dept. of Education fact sheet.

"Education is something we can always do something about," Davis-Kean said. "We can always teach, and kids will always learn. We just have to make sure that we have the opportunities to do that."

Most districts are already investing in programs to help children overcome learning loss.

A Bloomberg analysis in November 2021 found more than half of school districts that received stimulus money had set some aside for summer learning. About a third set aside money for tutoring.

However, that means many districts did not set aside extra funding for programs designed to fight learning loss.

Over the long term, the decision could put children at a disadvantage.

"People can argue about it, but education is generally the thing that opens up the door to higher-earning occupations," Davis-Kean said. "Once you change that in one generation, it opens up a door for the next generation."

A boy who loved to visit a music store in Colorado received a generous gift from an anonymous customer.

A post on the J.B. Hart Music Co., Inc. Facebook page says Fallon, for years, would visit the Grand Junction store and ask to play the "Pantera" guitar, meaning the Dean Dimebag Darrell ML Guitar.

"We were shocked he knew some Dimebag riffs," the post says.

Fallon, who has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, was playing the guitar at the store when a customer took notice, according to the post.

"It moved this customer so much he returned to the store later, purchased the guitar, and asked us to give the guitar to Fallon anonymously the next time we saw him," the post says.

The guitar had been sitting in the store for eight months. Unbeknownst to the people at the store, Fallon had moved to Texas.

To their surprise, he visited the store over the holidays when he was in town for a visit. Fallon and his family had no clue a guitar was there waiting for him.

"It was a wonderful experience to gift Fallon his dream guitar as a gift from a kind stranger," the post says. "His mom burst into tears, and Fallon beamed with excitement. It was a special moment. There are still good people in this world."

The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.

Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older, and federal regulators on Monday decided they’re also warranted for 12- to 15-year-olds once enough time has passed since their last dose.

But the move, coming as classes restart after the holidays, isn’t the final step. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide whether to recommend boosters for the younger teens. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, is expected to rule later this week.

The FDA also said everyone 12 and older eligible for a booster can get one as early as five months after their last dose rather than six months.

Vaccines still offer strong protection against serious illness from any type of COVID-19. But health authorities are urging everyone who’s eligible to get a booster dose for their best chance at avoiding milder breakthrough infections from the highly contagious omicron mutant.

Children tend to suffer less serious illness from COVID-19 than adults. But child hospitalizations are rising during the omicron wave — most of them unvaccinated.

The vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech is the only U.S. option for children of any age. About 13.5 million 12- to 17-year-olds — just over half that age group — have received two Pfizer shots, according to the CDC.

For families hoping to keep their children as protected as possible, the booster age limit raised questions.

The older teens, 16- and 17-year-olds, became eligible for boosters in early December. But original vaccinations opened for the younger teens, those 12 to 15, back in May. That means those first in line in the spring, potentially millions, are about as many months past their last dose as the slightly older teens.

As for even younger children, kid-size doses for 5- to 11-year-olds rolled out more recently, in November — and experts say healthy youngsters should be protected after their second dose for a while. But the FDA also said Monday that if children that young have severely weakened immune systems, they will be allowed a third dose 28 days after their second. That’s the same third-dose timing already recommended for immune-compromised teens and adults.

Pfizer is studying its vaccine, in even smaller doses, for children younger than 5.

The pandemic is taking its toll on kids in more ways than one. Doctors are calling mental health in our children a second pandemic. Sister station KOAT spoke to a pediatrician about the strain COVID-19 has put on our children.

Dr. Alex Cvijanovich is the president of the New Mexico Pediatric Society. She said mental health has been declared an emergency.

After months of home lockdown and isolation protocols because of COVID-19. Cvijanovich said our children face a mental health crisis, and it's something parents should take very seriously.

"I think it was here before COVID-19, but it has really exploded during the COVID pandemic. Take your child's concerns seriously and trust your instincts," she said.

So how can you tell if your child is struggling with mental health? Cvijanovich said the first signs are changes in eating habits, your child isolating themselves more than usual, sleeping through the days or not enjoying activities they usually love.

Cvijanovich said she sees these symptoms every day, and if you see them in your child, it's essential to act fast. If you can catch it early, you'll minimize the impact.

"Try to talk to your child if your child is willing. If the child or teenager has had a counselor or a therapist, a psychologist before, get back in touch," Cvijanovich said. "We need to be extremely careful. We are seeing much higher rates of attempted suicides and suicides. Parents, Grandparents, and caregivers know the kids in their house the best. And if they are concerned about their child's mental health, act on it."

The doctor adds that putting the suicide hotline number somewhere in your house or in your child's phone is the best way to keep them safe when you're not around. That number is 1-800-273-8255.

Watch the video above for the full story.

Millions of children in America became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine this week. And some officials are sweetening the deal by including them in various incentive programs.

In New York City, children can claim $100 if they get their first dose of Pfizer's vaccine at city-operated vaccine site. Alternatively, they can get tickets to city attractions such as the Statue of Liberty or the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team. The incentive program was already available to other New Yorkers who got vaccinated.

"We really want kids to take advantage, families take advantage of that," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. "Everyone could use a little more money around the holidays. But, most importantly, we want our kids and our families to be safe."

In Chicago, health officials are also offering $100 gift cards for children ages five to 11 when they get the shots at Chicago Public Health events or clinics, officials said.

Plus, the Chicago school district — one of the largest in the nation — is closing on November 12 for Vaccination Awareness Day to make it easier for students to get their shots.

"It is rare that we make a late change to the school calendar, but we see this as an important investment in the future of this school year and the health and wellbeing of our students, staff, and families," Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez said in a message to parents.

The perks come after the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention on Tuesday cleared children as young as 5 for smaller vaccination doses, making most Americans eligible for the shots.

In Texas, San Antonio officials announced that parents and guardians who help their children get vaccinated at a public health clinic may claim a $100 gift card for H-E-B grocery stores. And in neighboring Louisiana, officials said the 5-11 age group could soon also claim $100.

In Minnesota, officials launched the "Kids Deserve a Shot" program intended to bolster vaccine numbers among those ages 12 and 17, officials said. The state is offering a $200 visa card as well as the opportunity to enter a raffle for a $100,000 college scholarship or a Minnesota experience prize package.

However, it's unclear if the various incentives will help bolster the vaccine numbers.

A study published last month in JAMA Health Forum found that incentive lotteries organized by 19 states did not seem to work.

However, the researchers speculated that lotteries may be less enticing than actual cash for vaccines.

A survey in May from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47% of people who say they want to "wait and see" before being vaccinated said paid time off to get it would make them more likely to do so, and 39% said a financial incentive of $200 from their employer would work.

Overall, the U.S. has fully vaccinated more than 58% of the total population as of Thursday, according to CDC data.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — (KNXV) Neva Lee Recla may only be 12 years old, but she's already accomplished a lot in her short lifetime —- and there are no signs that she's slowing down anytime soon. She's working hard to make her goals and dreams a reality, and inspire a few others along the way.

At 7, she wrote and published her first book, "When Pigs Fly: The Parent's Guide to Inspire Your Young Entrepreneur," and launched her own podcast, "Super Power Kids," where she produced 100 episodes and totaled two million downloads.

Her podcast featured famous entrepreneurs, such as Cathy Lee Crosby, the original Wonder Woman from the 1974 TV film, and the founder of CEOSpace, Berny Dohrmann.

"I think a kid doing business is a bit unheard of," Neva said.

For her podcast, she said: "I liked incorporating what they did and I tried making it fun in like the kid world."

Neva has been an entrepreneurial go-getter her entire life, according to her mom, Tonya Dawn Recla.

She said. Neva asked to have her own business cards when she was two and even showed signs of networking while hanging out on the playground with other kids.

"She’d bring kids over, put out (her) hand, say 'Hello nice to meet you,' and what we saw happening was just developing that confidence," her mom said.

Inspiring her child and letting Neva lead the way on her own adventures is what Tonya said she focused on.

"Get to know your child, not through anyone else’s lens, not through what you think they should do, not through who you want them to be, not through what you wish you had done, just listen, and let them guide (the way)," she said.

Last year, Neva enrolled at ASU Digital Prep, an online K-12 school, where she is working on her second podcast, "Leave it to Neva," where she plans to share her passions, journey, and business advice with others.

"Not just inspire kids to do business but to show everybody that they’re loved and accepted for who they are and showing everybody that they don’t have to go on this path alone," Neva said. "I would say take what you love and turn it into a way to help people and know that it doesn’t have to be picture perfect."

This story was originally reported by Adam Waltz on ABC15.com.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky officially gave the green light on that guidance Tuesday. This development follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval last Friday of emergency use authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for that age group. This cohort of younger children can begin receiving these shots as early as this week.

Grown-ups have a lot of questions. What dose are their kids getting, and how long will it take to kick in and protect their children? What side effects should they expect? What if their child is about to turn 12 — should they wait until then to get the higher dose? And what happens if the pediatrician's office doesn't have vaccine appointments — what other options are there to get a shot?

CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, the mother of two young kids, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, is answering those questions.

Q: What dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine did the FDA and CDC authorize for children ages 5 to 11, and how long will it take for kids to be considered fully vaccinated?

Wen: The dosage authorized for this younger age group is 10 micrograms, which is one-third the dose given to adults and kids age 12 and older (30 micrograms). Similar to how it's administered to older individuals, the vaccine is given in two doses, spaced at least 21 days apart. Kids are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they receive the second dose.

Q: What kind of side effects should kids expect?

Wen: In the clinical trial involving more than 3,000 kids 5 to 11 years old who received the vaccine, side effects were similar to the kinds seen in adults. The most common side effects are soreness at the injection site, fatigue and headache. Some children can experience fever and chills. All of these side effects subside within a couple of days. In fact, the risks of these side effects were lower in the younger kids than in adults — probably because of the lower dose.

In the clinical trial, there were no cases of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, that is seen in very rare cases, predominantly in older children and adolescents. This condition is, in theory, still a possible risk, but expected to be extremely rare. The chance of myocarditis from COVID-19 is expected to be higher than the chance of myocarditis from the vaccine.

Some parents may be worried about long-term side effects. There is no scientific reason to think that this would happen. Side effects from other immunizations occur within the first two or three weeks following the shots, not months afterward.

Q: Should parents and families plan on kids missing school to recover from potential side effects after they get the vaccine?

Wen: That's up to you. A lot of kids have minimal side effects and will have no problem going to school the next day. On the other hand, if you are worried about childcare, in case your child has to miss school and then you may have to miss work, it's reasonable to schedule the shots on a Friday or weekend.

Q: Can a child get the COVID-19 vaccine the same time as another vaccine, like the flu vaccine?

Wen: Yes. If given at the same time, the vaccines would be given in a different injection site — for example, in the other arm, or in two different places on the leg.

Q: What if a child has a history of food or medication allergies? Should they skip this vaccine?

Wen: No. The only reason not to get this vaccine is if your child has a severe allergic reaction to one of its components. Note that the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain egg products, as some other vaccines do. If your child has a food allergy or had a reaction to another vaccine in the past, that is not a reason to refrain from the COVID-19 vaccine.

If you are particularly concerned, mention it to your pediatrician or pharmacist. These health professionals can observe your child in the office or pharmacy for longer following the vaccine just to make sure there is no allergic reaction.

Q: Should a child who has had COVID-19 before still get vaccinated?

Wen: The CDC recommends that individuals who previously were diagnosed with COVID-19 still get vaccinated. The vaccine provides additional, longer-lasting protection than recovery from illness.

There are some experts who believe that someone who has had COVID-19 only needs one shot of the vaccine. However, this is not the CDC recommendation, which is to receive two doses of the vaccine regardless of prior infection.

Q: What about healthy kids — should they still be vaccinated?

Wen: Yes. About one-third of the children who have been hospitalized from COVID-19 are those with no underlying health conditions. Healthy children can become very sick from coronavirus and would also benefit from the vaccine.

Q: What happens if the pediatrician's office says their appointments are already booked?

Wen: I know a lot of parents are very eager to get their kids vaccinated — I would be, too, if my kids were old enough! I'd first ask the pediatrician's office when their next appointments will be. Are we talking a matter of waiting a few days or multiple weeks? If it's just days, I'd wait, but if it's weeks, I'd ask to be put on the waitlist and then call around to explore other options.

Call all your local pharmacies, both chains and independent pharmacies. Make sure to mention your child's exact age, as some places may not give shots to young kids. If they are not sure yet, call back the next day — a lot is changing very quickly. Your local health department may have information on vaccine clinics. And ask your school administrator and other families, too, for recommendations.

Q: We get this question a lot — should families with 11-year-olds wait until their kids turn 12 to get the higher dose, or go ahead and get the lower dose now?

Wen: This was an extensive topic of conversation at the CDC meeting on Tuesday. The CDC recommends that children receive the appropriate dose for their age at the time of inoculation. If a child is just about to turn 12, they could get the 10-microgram dose for their first dose and the 30-microgram dose for the second.

It's important to note that vaccines are not weight-based. The 10-microgram dose, in the younger age group, was found to be optimal when it comes to both effectiveness and lower side effects. In the older age group, the 30-microgram dosage is what was studied. There probably isn't a major difference for an 11 or 12-year-old to get 10 versus 30 micrograms.

Q: Is there any reason to wait for the Moderna vaccine or Johnson & Johnson in this age group?

Wen: No. These other vaccines are not authorized for emergency use in this younger age group, and, in fact, the data has not even been submitted for federal health officials to review. It may take months for the FDA and CDC to review those applications. I would highly recommend that you vaccinate your children with what is available now, which is a safe and highly effective vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech.

Q: Should parents with children younger than 5 still take additional precautions, even after an older sibling is able to be vaccinated?

Wen: Yes, because there will still be a child in the house who remains too young to be vaccinated. That said, families can decide that once an older child is vaccinated, he or she can resume some activities that were put on hold before. A sleepover with others who are fully vaccinated, for example, is now much lower risk, as are sports and extracurriculars with other vaccinated kids.

Q: What would you say to people who don't believe COVID-19 is a real threat to children?

Wen: I'd refer them to the data. There have been more than 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 in this younger age group, according to the data presented at the CDC meeting. More than 8,300 children have been hospitalized. There have been over 2,300 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, which could cause severe organ damage with long-term consequences. COVID-19 is now one of the top 10 leading causes of death in this age group.

We now have a vaccine that is over 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 in younger children. All of us want to do what's best for children. I hope parents and families will take advantage of this free and safe vaccine, giving our kids protection — and adults much-needed peace of mind.