The vaccine will be given to kids in smaller doses, a third the dosage for teens and adults. The doses will include different directions and packaging to help medical providers avoid confusing the shots with the company's doses for individuals over 12, officials said. Rochelle Walensky could sign off soon after. The FDA authorized the doses on Friday, and a CDC panel is expected to issue a recommendation on the doses Tuesday. The White House said it has procured enough doses to vaccinate all 28 million 5- to 11-year-olds in the U.S., and said it began the process Friday of moving 15 million doses from Pfizer's freezers and facilities to distribution centers. "The benefit of vaccinating kids is clear," he said. Offit joined his FDA committee colleagues last week in recommending Pfizer's vaccine for young kids. Paul Offit, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. At least 5,217 kids have suffered from multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a rare but serious Covid-related complication.Ĭhildren are generally infected less severely, but "they can be infected to the point that they suffer and are hospitalized and die," said Dr. Although kids are less likely than adults to suffer from severe disease, a small portion of them do. population, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
10 even though they represent about 8.7% of the U.S. Kids ages 5 to 11 made up 10.6% of all reported Covid cases nationwide in the week ending Oct. Children are beginning to make up a greater share of new infections. is falling, the virus still infects an average of more than 72,000 Americans per day, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. We will get him vaccinated the second it is possible and hopefully he'll be able to get back to school, maybe in January."Īs the Biden administration begins assembling and shipping doses of Pfizer's and BioNTech's Covid vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 for immunizations as early as this week, some parents say they are preparing their kids for a return back to "normal" – in-person learning, sports and other extracurricular activities that were largely put on hold due to the pandemic.Įven though the daily number of Covid cases in the U.S.
"He doesn't really understand why his brother gets to go school and he doesn't," Hayes said.