Vaccine for kids paves way for protection against long-haul COVID

With a COVID vaccine now available for younger children, the benefit is not just protecting against severe disease -- but also against lingering long-haul symptoms.

With a COVID vaccine for younger children given the final go-ahead, millions more Americans as young as 5 years old can now roll up their sleeves for the protection the shot affords: dramatically reducing the risk of developing COVID-19.

For many, that will also mean protection from long COVID -- sometimes-debilitating symptoms that can last for months after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Kate Porter's daughter Adria was 11 when they both came down with an awful fever, fatigue and malaise in March 2020, before there was a vaccine for anyone. They both have grappled with ongoing symptoms since.

"If she could have been prevented from going through what we went through, I think it would have saved us a lot of hardship and pain and emotional, just anguish and worrying. I would have gotten her vaccinated immediately," Porter said.