Children in the United States “hopefully” will begin to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in late spring or early summer, said Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday.
Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, spoke at a coronavirus meeting at the White House, an event reinstated by the new president after falling in the last months of the Trump administration.
“Hopefully, in late spring and early summer, we will have children who can be vaccinated,” said Fauci.
Covid-19 vaccines have not yet been approved for children. Adult supplies and injection supply logistics are proving to be major challenges for manufacturers, government and state governments. As of Thursday, only 1.3% of Americans had received the two necessary doses of vaccines currently available.
But vaccinating children is a fundamental step in the quest for widespread immunity to a virus that has infected nearly 26 million in the United States and killed more than 433,000. For the United States to achieve “herd immunity,” or widespread resistance, about 70% to 85% of the population must be vaccinated. Children represent about 25% of the population.
“Children tend not to be as seriously ill as adults [from Covid-19] but they can still get sick and some have died tragically, ”Dr. Leana Wen, a public health specialist, told the Associated Press. “Children can also be vectors of transmission, and vaccinating children is important.”
The Federal Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved vaccines for children, due to insufficient test data. Fauci said that data is being collected through a process called an “age reduction test”. The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine has received emergency approval for use in people aged 16 and over. The next step, said Fauci, involves testing children as young as 12. If successful, it will be followed by another round of testing, up to the age of nine.
Since the initial tests to validate the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines involved tens of thousands of people, age-related tests on children can be done in smaller groups.
“You don’t want to have to … pass an effectiveness test, which involves tens of thousands of children,” said Fauci. “What you can do is a much smaller test, measured in hundreds to a few thousand … what we call safety and … immunogenicity.”
This is a term that defines whether the vaccine successfully triggers an immune system response.
After a frustratingly slow start, the US is administering about 1 million doses a day to adults, although the pace is still seen as insufficient. The Biden administration set a goal of 100 meters of kick in the first 100 days and the president talked about getting 1.5 million shots a day.
“We will make sure everyone has enough,” said Biden on Friday, visiting veterans at a hospital near Washington. “We are going to increase supply across the country.”
Two more vaccines from American companies are about to be approved by the FDA. One from Johnson & Johnson requires a single shot.
Biden also set a goal to reopen most schools by the summer and directed government agencies to work with communities to promote it.
Its US Congressional Rescue Plan legislation calls for $ 50 billion to fund a major expansion of testing, which is seen as necessary for the safe reopening of schools and businesses. Robust tests can detect outbreaks before they spread and trigger shutdowns. Under Donald Trump, testing in the U.S. had a chaotic start. Experts say that in many parts of the country it is still below average.