Will children be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States?
Not until there is enough data from studies in different age groups, which will be well into next year.
The Pfizer vaccine licensed this month in the United States is for people 16 years of age and older. Trials with children from 12 years of age began in October, which is expected to take several months. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have to decide when there is enough data to allow its emergency use in that group.
Depending on the results, younger children could be included in the study.
Moderna’s vaccine, which is expected to become the second to receive a green light in the United States, began trials this month with participants ages 12 to 17 and will monitor patients for a year. Trials with children under 12 are scheduled to begin in early 2021.
It is not clear that the results in younger children will be in time to start vaccinations before the next course begins.
The positive results in adults are reassuring and suggest that trials in children are safe to continue, said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease pediatrician at Vanderbilt University who leads the center’s vaccine research program.
Although children don’t usually get very sick from COVID-19, it can spread it to other people, said Dr. Robert Frenck, who is leading the Pfizer study in children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. At least 1.6 million young people have been infected, 8,000 have been hospitalized and 162 have died from the virus, he said.
“It is very important, not just for them but also for society,” Frenck said.
