- Experts expect that a COVID-19 vaccination for children under 12 could be available by September or October.
- Clinical trials are underway to test the vaccines in younger children.
- Experts say it’s important to vaccinate children of all ages to achieve herd immunity in the United States.
When might your child be eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19?
It depends on their age and what vaccine is available in your area.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded its emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to include children ages 12 to 16.
Meanwhile, clinical trials are underway to test the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in children under 12.
“Those studies are in progress, and I look forward to the results of those studies,” Dr. Dean A. Blumberg, chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease at the University of California, Davis, told Healthline.
“There’s nothing really magic about the difference between a 12-year-old and an 11-year-old, but you just have to do the studies to prove the vaccines are safe and effective,” he explained.
“You have to do them by different ages because we know that the dose may need to be adjusted, either a decreased dose if it’s a weight-based dose or maybe an increased dose due to the immature immune system and to look for any kind of unusual side effects that may occur while achieving a robust immune response.”
Source: healthline