Pfizer/BioNTech’s new pediatric COVID-19 vaccine vials are seen on this undated handout picture.
Pfizer | Reuters
The federal Covid-19 vaccine distribution program for kids ages 5 to 11 might be “totally up and operating” subsequent week if the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention approves Pfizer and BioNTech’s doses for that age group, White Home coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients stated Monday.
The Biden administration has already begun transferring 15 million vaccine doses from Pfizer to facilitate immunizations of youthful youngsters at pediatricians’ workplaces, pharmacies, hospitals and well being facilities, Zients stated at a White Home Covid briefing. Vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds may start this week, Zients stated. Nonetheless, the CDC should first authorize the photographs after the company’s advisory committee meets Tuesday to debate Pfizer’s vaccine information for younger youngsters.
“Beginning the week of Nov. 8, the children vaccination program might be totally up and operating,” Zients stated. “Dad and mom will have the ability to schedule appointments at handy websites they know and belief to get their youngsters vaccinated.”
The U.S. has acquired sufficient Pfizer doses to vaccinate all the nation’s 28 million youngsters ages 5 to 11 in opposition to the virus, Zients stated. The administration is working with greater than 20,000 well being suppliers to distribute the photographs, Zients stated, including that the method will launch with 15 million photographs earlier than “hundreds of thousands of extra doses” change into obtainable every week.
The Meals and Drug Administration accredited Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds on Friday, reporting that 146 youngsters in that age group had died from the coronavirus as of Oct. 17. Pfizer researchers advised the FDA’s advisory committee that their product was greater than 90% efficient at blocking symptomatic Covid instances in younger youngsters, and the photographs are a 3rd of the dosage that adults obtain.
CDC officers stated throughout a presentation earlier than the FDA’s advisory panel that weight problems, lung illness and neurological situations have been a number of the comorbidities in youngsters that would trigger harmful Covid issues. Covid outbreaks have led to greater than 2,000 faculty closures – impacting greater than 1 million youngsters and 68,000 lecturers – nationwide since August, they stated.
Kids ages 5 to 11 signify roughly 9% of the nation’s reported Covid instances, in line with FDA information offered to the panel.
