More and more COVID-19 vaccines have been approved. Here’s when children under 12 will be able to get their shot.
The third round of COVID-19 vaccines has been approved for a variety of people, prompting many to wonder when kids under 12 will be approved as well. While a lot of people have yet to be vaccinated, many parents are worried about their kids and the risk of contracting and spreading the disease in schools, summer camps, family gatherings, and more.
Per Reuters, children under 12-years old will be approved for vaccines by approximately mid-fall. “I think there’s a reasonable chance that Pfizer or Moderna could get FDA approval for younger children before the upcoming holiday season,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told TODAY. “Hopefully by the mid-late fall and early winter.”
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According to the director of the Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Dr. Bob Frenck, children can get powerful immunity from the virus from much smaller doses than adults, meaning that vaccine supply can spread further. Frenck is currently working on the clinical trials conducted on children in the Cincinnati Hospital. “We took a step back after we did the adolescents, and we looked at the dosing, because we thought that we may be able to use a lower dose and be able to get the same immune response,” he told CNN.
Side effects for kids are similar to the ones experienced by adults, with the majority of them mild and including a sore arm, fatigue, headache and fever in about 10% of children.
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The FDA recently approved the Pfizer vaccine for people ages 16 and up, something that reiterates their safety and importance. As hospitals and doctors compile data for children’s vaccines, the emergency approval of the shot is imminent, providing protection to more people and facilitating our return to normalcy.
