Coronavirus Watch: Why did FDA delay the vaccine for kids under 5?

Many parents of young children were disappointed when the Food and Drug Administration decided this month to postpone consideration of COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5. 

Experts say the decision was the right one. The FDA won't have enough data until the spring to judge whether a vaccine is safe and effective for young children, a half-dozen public health, infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists told Paste BN. 

Reporter Karen Weintraub has the story behind why experts say the delay in vaccines for children was the right thing to do.

It's Monday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news to know to start off your week:

• Hawaii is the only state not to have announced plans to drop its indoor mask mandate, as cases and hospitalizations steadily decline across the country.
• International tourists and business travelers began arriving in Australia on Monday, bringing family reunions after separations forced by some of the strictest pandemic measures in the world.
• The infection rate at the Beijing Olympics was 0.01% in the four weeks since a restrictive, three-layer testing system was put in place, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Sunday.
• Protesters who had brought chaos to the streets of the Canadian capital of Ottawa for the last three weeks were almost entirely gone Sunday, driven off by police in riot gear.

See our COVID-19 resource guide here. See total reported cases and deaths here. On vaccinations: About 76% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 64% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

– Cady Stanton, Paste BN digital editor fellow, @cady_stanton