One step remains: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends how to use vaccines and its vaccine advisers are expected to talk about vaccines on Friday and vote saturday.
U. S. regulators U. S. officials on Friday legalized the first COVID-19 vaccines for infants and preschoolers, paving the way for vaccines to begin next week.
The Food and Drug Administration’s action follows the unanimous advice of its advisory committee for the Moderna and Pfizer snapshots. This means that American children under the age of five, about 18 million young people, are eligible for vaccines, about a year and a half. after vaccines were first manufactured in the U. S. U. S. for adults, who were the hardest hit by the pandemic.
One step remains: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends how to use vaccines and its vaccine advisers are expected to talk about vaccines on Friday and vote on Saturday. Final approval would come from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
During a Senate hearing Thursday, Walensky said his staff worked on the June 19 federal holiday weekend “because we perceive the urgency of this for American parents. “
He said pediatric deaths from COVID-19 were higher than what is seen from the flu each year.
“So I think we want to protect young children, as well as protect everyone with the vaccine and, especially, protect the elderly,” he said.
The FDA also approved Moderna’s vaccine for school-age children and adolescents. Pfizer injections were the option for those ages.
For weeks, Biden’s management has been preparing to roll out vaccines for young children, with states, tribes, network fitness centers and pharmacies authorized to reserve millions of doses. The FDA’s emergency use authorization allows brands to start shipping vaccines worldwide. the country. Vaccinations can begin early next week.
While young people generally are not as unhealthy with Covid-19 as older youth and adults, their hospitalizations outweigh the wave of omicron and FDA advisors decided that the benefits of vaccination outweighed the minimal risks. Studies by Moderna and Pfizer showed that side effects, coupled with fever and fatigue, were generally minor.
“As we have noted with older age groups, we expect vaccines for young children to offer coverage against the more serious consequences of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement.
Both brands of vaccines use the same generation there are differences.
Pfizer’s vaccine for children under the age of five accounts for one-tenth of an adult’s dose. Three injections are required, the first two 3 weeks apart and the last at least two months later.
Moderna consists of two injections, which account for a quarter of the adult dose, given about 4 weeks apart for children under 6 years of age.
Vaccines are intended for young children from 6 months of age. Moderna then plans to examine her injections for young children starting at 3 months of age. Pfizer has not finalized plans for injections in young babies. A dozen countries, in addition to China, already vaccinate young children. under 5 years old.
Dr. Beth Ebel, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle, said vaccines for young children would be obtained well through American parents with young children in daycare centers where outbreaks can put parents out of work, increasing monetary pressure.
“A lot of other people will be satisfied and a lot of grandparents too, because we miss young children who grew up when you couldn’t see them,” Ebel said.
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By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Editor AP Medical Editors Laura Ungar and Carla K. Johnson contributed.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is only for all content.
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