LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Protection could be on its way for Arkansas' youngest kids.
On Thursday, Moderna asked the FDA for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine for kids between the ages of 6-months and 5-years.
After all of this time, the waiting game may almost be over for parents of young kids.
The vaccine is something Dr. Jerry Byrum said many have been asking about.
"I had a checkup with a 15-month-old baby 30 seconds before I talked to you, and that was their [parents] question, you know, how about the COVID vaccine," he said.
As a pediatrician at All For Kids Pediatric Clinic, Dr. Byrum is answering that question a lot.
"Parents are going to be nervous with any kind of delay. They want everything to line up, but rarely in medicine do things line up-- particularly with kids," he said.
But things could be lining up soon, as Moderna seeks approval for what could be the first shot for children under five.
Dr. Byrum said it's coming at a good time too.
"Everyone needs to be protected from this disease. These young kids are in daycare and unfortunately here recently, we've had a lot of daycare spread of COVID-19," he said.
We reached out and asked several parents, but unfortunately none wanted to talk about the subject of getting their young kids vaccinated.
Anne Pace, Kavanaugh Pharmacy owner, said the one question she keeps getting from parents is, 'why is it taking so long?'
"Why is it taking so long? Because we're trying to make sure that it is effective for our children and so we want it to take a long time," she said.
Even though it may be frustrating, Pace wants parents to understand that the back and forth is a good thing-- not only for their kids, but also the community.
"As we continue to have this virus mutate, we don't know if the next strain is going to hit kids harder than the previous strains have. So, it can still be problematic for anyone," she said.
While parents may still have questions and the shot isn't official yet, both Dr. Byrum and Pace said that most parents have already made up their mind.
"I'm not making much headway on convincing people to do it, but there are people that are ready for it and there are people that are very entrenched against it," Dr. Byrum said.
That's something that Pace is seeing as well.
"Parents have decided at this point whether they want to vaccinate their child or not, and so we're not here to change that decision for them," Pace said.
When and if approved, Pace said her pharmacy and others are ready to step into their role of distributing the shots.
The FDA is expected to make a final decision for the kid-sized shot by June.