Children under 5 years old could receive their first COVID-19 shot before the end of this month, White House pandemic response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Thursday.
“We expect that vaccinations will begin in earnest as early as Tuesday, June 21,” Jha told reporters during a White House press briefing.
Jha, who joined the Biden administration in April, warned that it could take some time for doses to reach vaccination sites across the country, but added that he expected that “within weeks, every parent that wants their child to get vaccinated will be able to get an appointment.”
The announcement came one day after Pfizer revealed it had filed its emergency use application with the Food and Drug Administration to administer their COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 6 months old.
“We recognize parents are anxious to have their young children vaccinated against COVID-19 and while the FDA cannot predict how long its evaluation of the data and information will take, we will review any EUA request we receive as quickly as possible using a science-based approach,” the agency said.
Dr. Ashish Jha announced children under 5 years old may be eligible to receive their first COVID-19 shot by June 21. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/FilePfizer’s shot for young children would provide just one-tenth of the vaccine dose given to adults.
The FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBAC) meet to discuss the emergency use authorization on June 14 and 15th, Jha said Thursday, indicating that the FDA will make their decision “soon thereafter.”
However, states can begin to order initial vaccine doses starting Friday. To jump start the program, the administration will me 10 million doses available to pharmacies, community health centers and federal entities.
“We expect some of the shipments to start arriving to — in their destinations over that long weekend,” Jha said, noting that most doctor’s offices will be closed for the Juneteenth holiday. “We can’t ship vaccines until the FDA has authorized these vaccines.”
In April, Moderna revealed it would also ask the FDA to approve its coronavirus vaccine for children under 6 years old. It is seeking to greenlight two small-dose shots. In a clinical trial, the company found that quarter-dosed-sized vaccinations were just as effective for children under 6 as regular-sized shots were for adults.
Its potential use for young children will also be discussed in the VRBAC meetings later this month.
So far, the FDA has only authorized the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to children between the ages of 5 and 11. As of May 25, 10 million children within that age range had received at least one dose of the vaccine — approximately 35% of all kids aged 5 to 11.
Children currently represent approximately 18.9% of all COVID-19 cases reported in the US — more than 13.3 million infections, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported late last month. Cases among children dramatically spiked during the Omicron winter surge earlier this year and while they have decreased significantly since, AAP found that cases among children have increased for the past seven weeks.
Generally, coronavirus symptoms in young children are milder than adult cases and hospitalization rates remain extremely low. AAP has reported that among states reporting, children only made up between 1.3% and 4.6% of their total hospitalizations while the children hospitalized only made up between 0.1% and 1.5% of all COVID-19 cases reported.
