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U.S. health advisers on Saturday recommended vaccines against COVID-19 for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, the latest group without vaccinations.
Advisors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously decided that coronavirus vaccines should be given to children as young as 6 months old.
On Saturday afternoon, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky signed the panel’s recommendation.
“Together, with science at the helm, we have taken another important step in our nation’s fight against COVID-19,” Walensky said in a statement. “We know that millions of parents and caregivers are eager to vaccinate their young children, and with today’s decision, they can do so. I encourage parents and caregivers with questions to talk to their local doctor, nurse, or pharmacist about getting more on the benefits of vaccinations and the importance of protecting your children by vaccinating them. “
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra issued a statement calling the CDC’s move an “important milestone.”
“Thanks to the rigorous, thorough and independent review of FDA and CDC data and their strict commitment to science, we are achieving another important milestone in our efforts to protect more children, their families and our families. communities as we work, to end the pandemic, “Becerra said. “We are following the data and science while making sure that all Americans are eligible and have access to vaccines and boosters against COVID-19 to prevent serious disease and save lives. From CDC and FDA action, now we know that vaccination for our children from 6 months to 5 years is safe and effective and we are ready to vaccinate millions of children. “
The White House also praised the decision in a statement calling the CDC’s decision a “monumental step forward in our nation’s fight against the virus.”
“For parents across the country, this is a day of relief and celebration,” President Biden said in a statement. “As the first country to protect our youngest children with COVID-19 vaccines, my administration has been planning and preparing for this time for months, ensuring effective doses and providing safe and highly effective mRNA vaccines for to all children up to six months of age. “
Although the Food and Drug Administration accepts the vaccines, it is up to the CDC to decide who should receive them.
The government has been preparing for the start of injections early next week, with millions of doses ordered for distribution to doctors, hospitals and community health clinics across the country.
Approximately 18 million children will be eligible, but it remains to be seen how many will receive the vaccines. Less than a third of children aged 5 to 11 have done so since vaccination was opened last November.
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Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center nurse Maggie Bass holds a vial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 on the right, while on the left is a adult vaccine road, at the vaccination station next to Jackson State. (AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis / AP Newsroom)
Two brands, Pfizer and Moderna, received green light from the FDA on Friday. Vaccines use the same technology, but are offered in different dose sizes and number of vaccinations for younger children.
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The Pfizer vaccine is 6 months to 4 years old. The dose is one tenth of the adult dose and three injections are needed. The first two occur three weeks apart, and the last at least two months later.
Modern is two injections, each a quarter of its adult dose, administered about four weeks apart for children from 6 months to 5 years. The FDA also approved a third dose, at least a month after the second injection, for children with immune conditions that make them more vulnerable to serious illness.
Johnson & Full Vaccine Syringes Johnson is on display on Thursday, May 13, 2021 at a mobile vaccination site at Greater Bethel Church in Miami. (AP Photo / Wilfredo Lee / AP Newsroom)
Two doses of Moderna appeared to be only about 40% effective in preventing milder infections at a time when the omicron variant was causing most COVID-19 diseases. Pfizer presented information from the study suggesting that the company saw 80% with its three features. But Pfizer’s data was so limited, and based on such a small number of cases, that experts and federal officials say they still don’t believe there is a reliable estimate.
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Hospitalizations increased during the omicron wave. Since the beginning of the pandemic, some 480 children under the age of 5 have been counted among the more than 1 million deaths from COVID-19 in the country, federal data show.
“It’s worth getting vaccinated, even though the death toll is relatively rare, because those deaths can be prevented by vaccination,” said Dr. Matthew Daley, a Kaiser Permanente Colorado researcher who is on the advisory committee.
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U.S. officials expect most of the shooting to be done in pediatricians’ offices. Many parents may be more comfortable with their children’s vaccine than their regular doctor, said White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha. He predicted that the rate of vaccination would be much slower than that of larger populations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report