invasive tests and hospitalizations dr maldonado said conversely parents may mistakenly attribute a fever to the vaccine when it may be caused by something else that warrants medical attentionyou dont want it for any age group but especially not the little ones dr maldonado said of a vaccine that produces high fevers if you extrapolate that to every under5yearold thats a lot of feversthe vaccine has been safe in other age groups and even the rare risk of heart problems in adolescents is unlikely in prepubescent children still vaccine hesitancy is running strong among parents of younger childrenthe fda authorized the pfizerbiontech vaccine for children 5 to 11 in october but only about one in five of the 28 million children in that age group has received two shots of the vaccine according to cdc datathe agency is under fire for approving an unproven alzheimers drug called aduhelm a vaccine for the youngest children is likely to be even more fraught and any regulatory missteps could be used to discredit the vaccines said angela rasmussen a virologist at the vaccine and infectious disease organization at the university of saskatchewan in canadaevaluating the vaccine now advances the authorization only by a few weeks she notedisnt it worth taking the time to make sure regulatory decisions are strongly supported with data she said given the potential longterm stakes for vaccine confidence and uptake