WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – The Food and Drug Administration greenlit the Pfizer vaccine for children as young as 12 years old. The first shots are expected in a matter of days. It”s a major move toward the reopening of all schools and the country.
The emergency use authorization from the FDA nearly clears the way for 17 million children to get vaccinated. Kids 12 to 15 years old — mostly middle and high school students — will soon qualify.
By the end of the week, many could get vaccinated at their pediatrician’s office, local clinics, and even their own schools.
Get in line now. Figure out with your pediatrician how to get this dose. This is going to get us back to a much more normal state.
The FDA said the same dose and the same two-shot regimen now being used in adults and teens is safe and effective for children as young as 12. It’s a critical step to slowing the 42,000 daily new COVID cases the U.S is averaging.
We have been seeing in the past few weeks that actually 25% of all the new cases are actually related to pediatric patients and that’s a record.
Pfizer’s trial showed the vaccine was 100 percent effective in stopping symptomatic infections in children. Side effects were similar to those in young adults.
The public should rest assured that safety monitoring will continue but FDA authorization won’t eliminate vaccine hesitancy.
While a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows roughly 30% of parents with kids in this age group will get their children vaccinated right away, 26% said they’ll “wait a while” to see how it is working.
Still, as the U.S. inches closer to the president’s July 4th goal of 70% of adults with at least one dose, six states are hitting that benchmark nearly two months early.
This morning, the nation’s future is looking more like its past. And now with the promise children 12 to 15 years old will have the same protection as their parents.
The CDC’s advisory committee will look at the data next. If they too give the green light, as expected, experts believe vaccinations for children 12-15 could begin as early as Thursday.
Vaccines for children 2 to 11 years old are also in trials but likely still months away.
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