<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654731586500,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed87-defd-a17f-fdd754cd0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654731586500,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed87-defd-a17f-fdd754cd0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54731469", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1027997"} }); ","_id":"00000181-45b0-d1f1-a1c3-7ff3318a0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe Biden administration unveiled its plan to get millions of children 5 and under vaccinated against COVID-19 starting as soon as June 21 pending authorization from federal regulators.
The federal government has secured 10 million pediatric doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for states, pharmacies, and community health centers to preorder. The first round of 5 million doses was made available for preorder last week, and the second tranche of 5 million became available Wednesday.
WHITE HOUSE TO RATION DWINDLING COVID-19 FUNDS TO PRIORITIZE VACCINE PURCHASES
The Food and Drug Administration’s panel of vaccine experts will convene next week to vote on whether to authorize the three-dose Pfizer vaccine for children and the two-dose vaccine from Moderna. The preordered doses will only be shipped out if the FDA grants the companies expanded use authorization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives the final green light.
“We know that there are many parents who’ve been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to vaccinate their youngest kids, and we share their eagerness,” a senior administration official said Wednesday. “If, in fact, FDA authorizes and CDC recommends, we’re going to immediately launch a comprehensive nationwide effort to ensure that parents can get their youngest kids vaccinated easily and do so at locations that they know and they trust.”
Pediatricians and primary care providers, who are often parents’ most trusted sources for medical advice for their children, as well as children’s hospitals will be prioritized when it’s time to ship out the shots.
The administration plans to get the word out about the shots by collaborating with industry groups and organizations whose focus is on schools and parenting, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Library Association, the National PTA, the National Diaper Bank Network, and the National Association of Community Health Centers. Administration officials will also reach parents and young children through existing federal safety net programs such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Women, Infants, and Children program, and the Head Start program.
“The administration’s goal on COVID from day one has been to leave no stone unturned and to deploy every capability of the federal government. We will put that into practice and help to vaccinate America’s youngest kids,” a senior administration official said.
The roughly 18 million children in the United States under 5 make up the last population group for whom COVID-19 shots are unavailable, frustrating parents who have seen the FDA authorize additional booster doses for every other age group. Still, not all parents are eagerly awaiting the authorizations. Roughly 18% of parents of children under 5 reported that they would get their children vaccinated right away, while 38% said they would “wait and see,” according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have proven effective in clinical trials, which will inform the FDA’s decision-making next week. Pfizer-BioNTech announced last month that three low doses of its vaccine were about 80% effective in preventing symptomatic infection and were deemed safe in a trial of nearly 1,700 children 6 months to 5 years old.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Moderna, meanwhile, said in April that its two-dose vaccine was 51% effective in preventing illness in children between 6 months old and 2 years old and 37% effective in children ages 2 to 5. Protection against illness so severe it lands a child in the hospital is likely much higher, but there were no cases in the trial of such an illness, which is rare in children. The level of coronavirus-fighting antibodies generated by the shots was equivalent to or better than the response for young adults earlier in the pandemic.
