NEW YORK (AP) – When will children be able to get the COVID-19 vaccines?
It depends on the age of the child, but some teenagers can roll up their sleeves in a short time.
The Pfizer vaccine is already released for use from the age of 16. This means that some high school students can get in line for these vaccines whenever they become eligible in their area, either because of a medical condition or when there is availability.
Pfizer and Moderna have completed enrollment for studies of children 12 years old and hope to release the data over the summer. If regulators approve the results, younger teenagers can also start getting vaccinated as soon as supplies allow. The Modern vaccine is currently released for people aged 18 and over.
The researchers started with older children because they tend to respond to vaccines more similarly to adults. Testing even younger groups is more complex, because they may require a different dose or have different responses.
“Children are not just small adults,” said pediatrician Dr. James Campbell of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “The younger you get, the greater the chances that things may be different.”
Children develop serious illnesses or die from COVID-19 at much lower rates than adults, but they can still spread the virus.
“There is no doubt: we want to immunize children,” said Dr. Sarah Long, professor of pediatrics at Drexel University.
Pfizer and Moderna hope to begin studies in children aged 11 and under this year.
“It is unlikely that we can obtain protection from the community without immunizing children,” added Long. “This is the axis to get everything back to some kind of normality.”
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