By necessity the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has initially presented families with teen and pre-teen children with the odd situation of parents and older children now being eligible for the vaccine, but some younger children patiently waiting on the science before they have their own opportunity to be vaccinated. Obviously this is has been a logical sequence of events for both public health and safety reasons, but for those families who may have hopefully planned summer vacations, it’s been a bit of a nagging concern that some of their kids may have to wait.
But it appears that the wheels are turning, faster than anyone could have expected. The FDA is likely to approve the Pfizer vaccine for the remaining teen and late-tween set in this country as early as next week.
As reported by the New York Times:
The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to authorize use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents 12 to 15 years old by early next week, according to federal officials familiar with the agency’s plans, opening up the nation’s vaccination campaign to millions more Americans.
The news is highly anticipated: Eager parents have been counting down the weeks since Pfizer announced results from its trial in adolescents, showing the vaccine is at least as effective in that age group as it is in adults. Vaccinating children is also key to raising the level of immunity in the population and bringing down the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.
The approval could come as early as the end of the week, followed immediately by the review and recommendations of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel.
It appears that protective effects and safety of the Pfizer vaccine, now approved for teenagers 16 and older, are equally beneficial for younger children.
Pfizer reported several weeks ago that none of the adolescents in the clinical trial who received the vaccine developed symptomatic infections, a sign of significant protection. The company announced in late March that volunteers produced strong antibody responses and experienced about the same side effects seen in people ages 16 to 25 years.
For parents who were concerned about summer vacations and the safety of summer activities for their kids, the news comes as a major relief.
For its part, Moderna is awaiting final clinical trial results to determine the safety of its vaccine for even younger children, for children ages six months through 12.
The speed at which these mRNA vaccines have been developed and tested has been nothing short of remarkable. We should all be very grateful for the scientific work that has made them possible, and thankful for the fact that we now have a functioning and competent government to distribute them.