- The COVID-19 vaccine is currently not authorized for use in children under the age of 16.
- While children appear to be less affected by COVID-19 than adults, they’re not at zero risk from infection and illness.
- Families must weigh the benefits versus risks when deciding what activities to partake in with unvaccinated children.
As more and more adults across the United States receive the COVID-19 vaccine, families with unvaccinated children are left with many questions about which activities are safe to participate in this summer.
Two of the three vaccines currently on the market are authorized for use in adults 18 and older, while the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is authorized for people 16 and older.
Pfizer recently released data stating its vaccine is safe and effective for children 12 to 15 years old.
Experts expect children in this age group to start getting vaccinated soon, maybe even as early as next month.
Testing is also underway in children under 12 and as young as 6 months. But these trials are expected to take longer; younger children may need different doses than adolescents and adults.
“If all goes well, we’re looking at probably early 2022 when we would see emergency use authorization for younger kids,” Dr. Stanley Spinner, vice president and chief medical officer at Texas Children’s Pediatrics and Texas Children’s Urgent Care.
That leaves a lot of time and uncertainty for parents trying to navigate a post-vaccine world where they’re protected but their children are still at risk of infection and transmitting the virus to others.
Source: healthline