Finally, COVID shots for our youngest

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Amelia Helm's twins had just turned 1 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Now they're 3, and the Richfield family is still waiting for the little boys' chance to get the most potent protection medicine offers against the virus — the COVID vaccine.

Kids under 5 are the last group for which the shots have been authorized for general use. For families like the Helms, that has meant keeping their guard up against COVID long after others who were vaccinated eased up and returned to a more normal life.

Finally, the twins' turn appears to be close at hand, with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisers on Thursday greenlighting the Pfizer and Moderna shots for kids down to six months of age. That should swiftly clear the way for other regulatory signoffs needed. The vaccines could be available as early as next week.

Helm is already planning to get her sons immunized expeditiously. The shots will protect her kids. She also hopes their availability will cut down on the child care disruption created by even a single case of COVID in her sons' preschool classroom, which triggers a five-day quarantine and follow-up testing for exposed kids.

"I'm excited about one less serious illness that kids are going to come down with in the scope of all the germs and viruses they are exposed to," Helm told an editorial writer.

Just 42% of Minnesota kids ages 5-11 have had a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state Department of Health. That leaves far too many kids without the additional protection that being fully vaccinated against COVID provides.

Collaboration and innovation are called for among the state's respected nonprofit hospitals and insurers. In particular, more strategies are needed to reach families who may not have a regular doctor or clinic.

This is the time to mobilize whatever mobile options exist to bring the shots to underserved rural and urban communities. High-profile marketing campaigns are also in order to ensure parents know that the shots are available at clinics and, potentially, at some pharmacies.

Walgreens, for example, is "authorized to administer vaccinations to children 3+," a spokeswoman said this week.

The CVS chain plans "to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to children 18 months through four years of age at our national network of 1,100 MinuteClinic locations once the FDA and CDC have provided guidance and inventory is received."