--- title: A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids description: Here’s what you need to know about when to get your kids vaccinated for COVID-19, and which shots offer the most protection. canonical: https://time.com/6189036/covid-19-vaccines-kids/ author: Emily Barone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-06-19T18:44:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T13:09:28.078Z article:section: Health og:title: A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids og:description: Here’s what you need to know og:url: https://time.com/6189036/covid-19-vaccines-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids twitter:description: Here’s what you need to know twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids by [Emily Barone](https://time.com/author/emily-barone/) and [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/) Jun 19, 2022 6:44 PM UTC by [Emily Barone](https://time.com/author/emily-barone/) and [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/) Jun 19, 2022 6:44 PM UTC All children 6 months and older are now eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19\. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have [reviewed the studies](https://time.com/6187674/covid-19-vaccines-kids-under-five-fda/) conducted by vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and unanimously determined that the shots are safe and effective for children. Vaccine efficacy varies between the companies and among different age groups. That’s for a number of reasons: the trials were conducted during waves of different variants, trials for kids were relatively small, and very few kids tested positive for COVID-19 in the short time period during which they were studied. The studies also looked at different outcomes, with some focusing on COVID-19 infections as a measure of the vaccine’s effectiveness, while others focused on symptoms of severe disease and hospitalization. The bottom line is that both mRNA vaccines were found to be safe and efficacious against serious disease in all age groups. Parents who want to get their young children vaccinated now have decisions to make, and figuring out when to vaccinate your kids—and with which vaccine—can be confusing. Here’s a visual guide to understanding the similarities and differences between the vaccines. A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6189036/covid-19-vaccines-kids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6189036/covid-19-vaccines-kids/"},"headline":"A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids","datePublished":"2022-06-19T18:44:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T13:09:28.078Z","description":"Here’s what you need to know","url":"https://time.com/6189036/covid-19-vaccines-kids/","keywords":["COVID-19","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emily Barone","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emily-barone/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6189036/covid-19-vaccines-kids/","name":"A Parent’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids"}}]}] ```