following a unanimous vote by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel Tuesday to recommend giving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to children ages 5 to 11.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky declared, "Today is a monumental day in the course of this pandemic and one that many of us have been very eager to see ever since your vote … recommending COVID-19 vaccination for those 16 and older," at the start of the panel meeting according to reporting from the Washington Post.
"There are children in the second grade who have never experienced a 'normal' school year," Walensky, who was expected to sign off on the recommendation later Tuesday, continued. "There are students in middle school who missed out on school sports and extracurricular activities. There are missed proms and homecoming dances … Pediatric vaccination has the power to help us change all of that."
Once Walensky's signature is on the letter, 28 million kids will be eligible for a two-shot dose of the vaccine — containing one-third of the adult dose and administered three weeks apart — and according to White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients the vaccination effort is expected to be fully running by next week.
“Starting the week of Nov. 8, the kids vaccination program will be fully up and running,” Zients said at a press conference Monday, following the Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids in the same age group Friday. “Parents will be able to schedule appointments at convenient sites they know and trust to get their kids vaccinated.”
No comments:
Post a Comment