(WXYZ) — Children under the age of 12 are not eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 – but that may soon change. Top executives at Pfizer say the drugmaker is set to seek approval for its COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged 5 to 11.
As you know, I’m a parent and three of my kids are too young to get a COVID vaccine. This is why I am super excited about Pfizer’s announcement. They said that they’ll be seeking approval soon from regulators regarding its COVID-19 vaccine in kids aged 5 to 11. And they’ll request approval not just here in the US, but all across the world. Now Pfizer was quite positive and said that things are looking good and all is going to plan. They’ll be presenting and filing clinical trial results over the next few weeks. The drugmaker is also fine-tuning production steps so that they can make smaller vaccine doses for the younger age group. That way if they’re approved, they can hit the ground running.
Moderna recently announced that its clinical trials for kids between the ages of 6 and 11 are fully enrolled. They have 4,000 participants and the company is testing 50 micrograms of its vaccine in this study group. Now we know that Moderna’s vaccine has emergency use authorization for people aged 18 and up. But what about adolescents? Well, Moderna is currently under an FDA review for kids 12 to 17. And hopefully, we’ll hear soon if the FDA will expand the drugmaker’s emergency use authorization to include the teenage group.
I think this is all very good news and I’m hoping vaccines for kids will be ready sooner rather than later. Especially since the new school year is underway and we’ve seen cases in children skyrocket. Especially in areas like the south where they have quite a few kids hospitalized with COVID. And with winter and flu season not far off, I’m highly concerned about what may lie ahead for our youngest population. Unfortunately, COVID kills more children than the flu. However, we have influenza vaccines. And we vaccinate our kids against the flu. And I believe vaccinating them against COVID will also keep them much safer than if we don’t vaccinate them.
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