Injections for infants under six months old will be available from June 21, if injection applications are approved by regulators in the coming weeks, the White House chief Covid coordinator said on Thursday.
Dr. Ashish Jha, recently appointed White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said at a briefing that filming for the youngest eligible Americans could begin in just three weeks.
Their announcement comes just after Pfizer, the maker of America’s most popular vaccine and the only vaccine available to people aged five to 17 in the United States, announced Wednesday night that it will cancel its three-year application for the vaccine. six-month-old children aged five to 17 years. up to four years.
If approved by regulatory authorities from both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it would make America the country with the lowest vaccination age in the world.
But experts are split on whether this age group needs injections, as the risk from the virus is so limited. Key advisors to weigh in on the decision tell DailyMail.com it’s too early to decide whether to approve the listings.
Dr. White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha (pictured) said he expects vaccines to be available as early as June 21 for children aged six months to five years.
Pfizer last month released preliminary data showing the vaccine is 80% effective at preventing Omicron infection, but the efficacy rate may change as more study participants need to be infected before the numbers are rounded off.
Jha said the White House is already working with states, pharmacies and doctors to facilitate the initiation of filming.
Pfizer’s shot comes in three doses as opposed to the two standard doses for older age groups. Also, just three micrograms would be one-tenth the standard adult dose and one-third the dose for children five to 12 years old.
The switch was made late last year, when initial data showed that only two doses of the vaccine offered little protection against the virus.
Dr Cody Meissner (pictured), chief of pediatrics at Tufts Children’s Hospital and member of the VRBPAC, says herd immunity is not possible with currently available COVID-19 vaccines.
Vaccines must be approved by both the FDA and the CDC before they can be thrown into babies’ arms.
Later this month, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologicals Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet on June 14 and 15 to discuss injections.
Skeptical about the introduction of more vaccines than the CDC and other health officials, the committee was disregarded in its decision to approve supplements for children ages five to 11 and a fourth dose for those over 50.
The decision to skip VRBPAC was made by the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Eric Rubin and Dr. Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who spoke out against the approval.
When asked about Pfizer’s latest presentation, Offit told DailyMail.com that he should review the data before expressing an opinion.
Dr Cody Meissner, who is also a member of the VRBPAC representing Tufts Children’s Hospital, told DailyMail.com that “there will be an interesting discussion” regarding the approval of the recordings.
‘Do the potential benefits of vaccinating this group hurt? That’s the question I think everyone will think about,” he added.
He said that the White House’s announcement of the June 21 date would not pressure the committee to approve the doses because their positions were free from political pressure.
Meissner said he doesn’t believe herd immunity is possible, as he has done in the past, and that vaccinating everyone won’t stop the transmission of the virus.
Because vaccines are intended to prevent serious infections that cause hospitalization or death rather than the infection itself, transmission of the virus will continue even if it is only asymptomatic.
This raises an interesting question for many officials. If vaccines cannot completely prevent transmission of the virus and many children are still at limited risk of contracting the virus, what reason could there be to approve vaccines?
Regarding mRNA vaccines in particular—injections from Moderna and Pfizer—the CDC warns that the risk of developing heart inflammation in young men who receive the injections is very small, but still present.
Meissner also expressed concern about the novelty of the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer shot.
He told DailyMail.com in February: “We have no experience with that.” [mRNA] vaccines in young children… I hope they will prove to be equally safe and equally effective [as they were for adults]but we don’t know.’
The technology has been on the market for decades, but was largely ignored by the medical community until it was implemented by Moderna and Pfizer for Covid shots.
It has since been studied as a basis for possible vaccines against HIV, flu and cancer, but due to its limited use in the past, there is no data on how it might affect a person decades later.
However, the risks of harming people in the future are extremely small.
Some are also concerned about the small sample size used for the study. When Pfizer first received approval in late 2020, trial data included more than 40,000 participants.
More than 1,500 children aged six months to five years were recruited for these studies with a significantly smaller sample size.
Source: Daily Mail
I am Anne Johnson and I work as an author at the Fashion Vibes. My main area of expertise is beauty related news, but I also have experience in covering other types of stories like entertainment, lifestyle, and health topics. With my years of experience in writing for various publications, I have built strong relationships with many industry insiders. My passion for journalism has enabled me to stay on top of the latest trends and changes in the world of beauty.
