COVID-19 vaccine for children under 12 years may be ready by September | Coronavirus

According to Gaisinger experts in pediatric infections, children under the age of 12 should be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it turns out to be safe and effective.

Dr. Swathi Gowtham said data on the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine have been reviewed by health professionals. It is the only vaccine ever approved for children by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the results should be available by the end of this year. For children 6 months old.

“It’s important to have specific pediatric data. You can’t use adult vaccinations for your child,” she said.

According to Gorsum, the tests are being phased in, and by September data on the effectiveness of the vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 will be available, and soon for a two- to five-year vaccine. We expect the data to be available. November for 6-month-old babies.

“It will be a national organization of experts to decide if it is safe,” encouraging all children to be vaccinated as soon as it becomes safely available. Gotham said. “It is really important to vaccinate children as soon as possible and safely. Until then, they should follow precautions and mask indoors.”

The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine has already been approved for use in adolescents up to the age of 12, and the company plans to submit study data for children up to the age of 5 in September. Moderna is testing vaccines in children 16 and 17 years old and younger.

Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are also testing vaccines in adolescence. The J & J vaccine has already been approved for adults, but Novavax has applied for an emergency vaccine license from the FDA.

A gathering of experts explained the benefits and some risks of vaccination of children at a symposium hosted by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington on Wednesday.

“COVID-19 should be considered a preventable disease with vaccines in children,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “COVID should be ranked high in terms of preventable illness and death.”

Children now account for about a quarter of new infectious diseases, according to federal data. Although cases are much less likely to be more severe than adults, coronavirus deaths are three times more likely than influenza deaths, and the long-term effects of the disease are still unknown.

Gorsum said this was the main reason for vaccination, with hundreds of children and young adults experiencing mild myocarditis or heart inflammation after vaccination, with side effects in most adolescent men. He points out that it is “very rare”.

“It’s very rare and very mild, the vaccine is still safe,” she said. “COVID itself can cause heart inflammation.”

A pharmaceutical company official said at a virtual symposium that children were expected to be vaccinated less than adults, but achieved the same high efficacy.

Other panelists have spoken to black and Hispanic residents who were suffering from imbalanced health inequalities both before and after the pandemic, especially the concerns parents may have when inoculating their children with new vaccines.

False information about vaccines is spreading rapidly, especially through social media, said Amy Pisani, executive director of Vaccinate Your Family, an educational organization co-founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

She said there were three major issues. Parents want a licensed and unlicensed vaccine. They wanted a messenger they could trust. It requires commitment from doctors, and faith and community leaders.

“They want to know about the long-term effects of vaccines, and we argue that we are unaware of the long-term effects of COVID,” Pisani said.

Panelists pointed out that the demand for vaccines is declining. According to federal statistics, about 54.4% of the US population has been vaccinated at least once. Over 53% of people over the age of 12 have experienced at least one dose. The most widely used vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna both need to be given twice.

Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Index Evaluation at the University of Washington, said that the more infectious delta variants provide a stronger foothold, so how many adults and children will be vaccinated “very much. It will be important. “

Murray said he expected a surge in late-autumn incidents after the children returned to school.

Dr. Joshua Schaffstein, Vice Dean of Public Health Practices and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health School, means that it is important to earn the trust of parents.

He said that recruiting diverse volunteers was difficult in some trials and could herald problems in gaining parental confidence in vaccination.

“It will be really important to invest in outreach and lasting involvement,” he said.

But if the vaccination rate doesn’t go up, there’s one thing that’s already clear.

“The virus is so contagious that it would be found if not vaccinated,” said US Democrat Kim Schlier, a Democrat in Washington State.

Tribune News Service contributed to this article.