When do kids get COVID vaccines?
MONDAY, February 15, 2021 (HealthDay News) – For parents with questions about COVID-19 vaccines and children, Johns Hopkins Medicine experts offer answers.
While vaccinations are available in the US for adults, clinical trials have not yet been completed for the first US Food and Drug Administration-approved COVID-19 vaccines for children and adolescents under the age of 16.
Before this age group can get a vaccine, the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must accept clinical trial results that show the vaccines are safe and effective in adolescents, said Dr. Aaron Milstone, Professor of Pediatrics at Hopkins’ School of Medicine and Dr. Kawsar Talaat, Assistant Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
Currently, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is FDA approved for use in people aged 16 and over, while children ages 12 to 15 have participated in clinical trials of the vaccine.
The Moderna vaccine is FDA approved for use in people 18 years of age and older, while children ages 12 to 17 are participating in studies of the vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines for children older than 12 years old may be approved until late spring or early summer, but it may be late 2021 or 2022 before vaccines for children under 12 are approved, doctors say.
When children can actually be vaccinated depends on the vaccine supply, the experts said in a press release from Hopkins. Currently, vaccines are distributed to groups of people on a priority basis.
Until teenagers can be vaccinated, parents should protect their children from COVID-19 by continuing to practice preventive measures such as wearing face masks, maintaining a safe physical distance from others, and using appropriate hand hygiene, advised Milstone and Talaat.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about COVID-19.
SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Medicine, press release, February 9, 2021
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