Ever since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use in kids ages 5-11 in Oct. 2021, parents everywhere have breathed a sigh of relief.
And that includes celebrity parents, some of whom have already experienced the anguish of a sick kid. “I want to protect my babies, love them, make them all better, take away the burning fever and tummy aches,” wrote Punky Brewster alum Soleil Moon Frye when three of her children tested positive for COVID-19, later adding that she was “proud” of her two eldest for receiving the vaccine. Likewise, Jennifer Garner revealed that her back-to-school checklist involved two of her children getting the shot as well. “Thank you science for getting us this far and this much closer to health and freedom,” she wrote on Instagram.
Although some parents are still deciding whether the vaccine is right for their families — and the news of the Omicron variant is concerning — it’s reassuring to know that many families have already vaccinated their kids against the virus. According to the White House, an estimated 2.6 million children (about 10 percent) ages 5 to 11 have already gotten their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. While 80 percent of Americans ages 12 and up have been partially vaccinated.
Given that children ages 5-11 have experienced more than 8,300 COVID-19-related hospitalizations and nearly 100 deaths from COVID-19 as of October 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s notable when celebs (and even Sesame Street’s Big Bird) normalize the experience.
Keep reading to see which Hollywood parents support the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine.
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Chrissy Teigen & John Legend
Image Credit: Invision Chrissy Teigenn and John Legend’s 5-year-old daughter Luna received her second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine in December 2021 which her parents celebrated with an ice cream cone. “Took my big girl to ice cream to celebrate her 2nd shot,” Legend wrote on Instagram. On her Instagram page, Teigen wrote of her daughter, “Second shot queeeeen! go big girl go big girl go!”
The couple also share 3-year-old son Miles.
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Nicole Eggert
Image Credit: Derek Storm/Everett Collection Actress Nicole Eggert, best known for roles in Charles in Charge and Baywatch, posted a photo on Instagram of her daughter, Keegan, 10, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in November 2021.
“Too bad all the adults didn’t step up for the youth but here we are,” Eggert wrote. “If simple chicken pox leaves a forever living virus in u like shingles what is COVID’s long term affects?” In another image, Keegan holds up her vaccine card and showing off her Band-Aid from the jab.
Eggert also has daughter, Dilyn, 23, with Justin Herwick.
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Jennifer Garner
Image Credit: John Shearer/Invision/AP In September 2021, actress Jennifer Garner posted on Instagram that two of her three kids, whom she shares with ex-husband Ben Affleck, were vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The school year starts in dribs and drabs, but today’s the real deal for my family — we are back,” she wrote. “3/3 masked, 2/3 vaxxed (soon, please, 11 and under), every one eager, tentative, bold, vulnerable and — as far as I can tell — smiling under the 3-ply….Thank you science for getting us this far and this much closer to health and freedom…”
The former couple are parents of Violet, 15, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, 9.
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Ciara
Image Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP In November 2021, singer Ciara visited the White House to promote the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine alonside First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Dr. Hina Talib, a pediatrician. During a press briefing, Ciara said her 7-year-old son Future, whom she shares with ex-boyfriend Future, got vaccinated just two days prior.
“He walked in excited, a little nervous, but he was excited because a lot of his classmates had already gotten vaccinated so, um, you know, it was really cool to be on that journey with him,” she said during the briefing. “Being a mom, and you know, seeing it through his eyes, I think was amazing as well. I think the ultimate goal is to end this thing and for us to all feel a bit more safe and have that added layer of protection. So we got to talk about all that and it was a really good time with the First Lady and Dr. Talib.”
Ciara’s other children are Sienna, 4, and Win, 1, whom she shares with husband Russell Wilson.
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Matthew McConaughey
Image Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP In November 2021, actor Matthew McConaughey made headlines when he expressed disapproval of COVID-19 vaccine mandates which prompted rumors that he was “anti-vax.” However the actor soon cleared the air with an Instagram statement which read, “I want to clarify something that has been making the rounds in the press about my answer in a New York Times interview I did the other day. When asked my opinion on the subject of children and vaccination mandates I stated, ‘I couldn’t mandate it for kids just yet.’ What was not clear is that I was referring specifically to the 5-11 year old mandate. What is NOT true, and insinuated with the clickbait headlines since, is that I am against vaccinating children at all. This is false. In fact, our eldest 13-year-old son Levi is fully vaccinated for COVID-19.”
McConaughey shares three kids with wife Camila Alves: Levi, 13, Vida, 11, and Livingston, 8.
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Mila Kunis & Ashton Kutcher
Image Credit: Peter Barreras/Invision/AP In September, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher expressed hope that their children Wyatt Isabelle, 6, and son Dimitri Portwood, 4, would have the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“That’s what we were talking about. Yeah, it is [weird], because every day you’re like, ‘I hear it’s going to be approved by X date,’ and then it gets pushed and it gets pushed, and you hope that it’s getting pushed for the right reasons and not just because someone wants to put their name on it,” Kunis told People.
Kutcher added, “And who wants to be the parents that give their kid COVID and then gets their kid’s school shut down and keeps kids from being educated because they didn’t get vaccinated because the kid couldn’t get vaccinated.”
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Soleil Moon Frye
Image Credit: AP Soleil Moon Frye’s two eldest children are vaccinated against COVID-19, she told People in September 2021. The Punky Brewster alum shares Poet, 16, Jagger, 13, Lyric, 7, and Story, 5, with her ex Jason Goldberg.
The decision to vaccinate, she told the outlet, was entirely their own. “They really were asking about it,” she said. “I think that it’s incredible to see young people being involved in the conversation and being a part of making those choices.”
In August 2021, three of Moon Frye’s children tested positive for COVID-19. “All of us that have been around them have tested negative,” she wrote on Instagram. “That is part of the mystery in this, how hard it is often to trace and how easy it is to spread. Please be safe.”
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Busy Philipps
Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Dawson’s Creek alum Busy Philipps vaccinated her now 13-year-old daughter Birdie Leigh in June 2021. “Wearing 100 percent of my clothing, this kid got fully vaxxed yesterday,” Philipps wrote on Instagram. “Also, never once in my life was I (or have I ever been) as effortlessly cool as Birdie. I mean.”
Along with Birdie, Philipps shares 8-year-old daughter Cricket Pearl with husband Marc Silverstein.
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