White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said Thursday that he is hopeful that the COVID-19 vaccine will be available to babies 6 months and older starting in 2022.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 in late October, meaning that the only group left to gain access to the vaccine includes babies, toddlers, and young children.
“Hopefully within a reasonably short period of time, likely the beginning of next year in 2022, in the first quarter of 2022, it will be available to them,” Fauci told Business Insider. “Can’t guarantee it — you’ve got to do the clinical trial.”
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Pfizer has moved the quickest among its peers with vaccine development, but it has not submitted clinical data yet for children 6 months to 5 years, according to Business Insider.
Both Pfizer and Moderna have reportedly been expanding their clinical trials to test their COVID-19 vaccine for children in this age group, the New York Times reported.
The FDA has approved the use of dozens of vaccines for different diseases in very young children.
In October, for example, it approved the Flucelvax vaccine for children aged 6-12 months.
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An estimated 605 people under age 17 have died from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A total of 765,000 people of all ages in the United States have died from COVID-19.
