Re: COVID-19 News and Discussions
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:29 pm
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... ce=twitterMore than a year and a half after the oldest Americans gained access to coronavirus vaccines, the nation’s youngest citizens are poised to start getting shots next week, a move made possible when federal regulators Friday authorized vaccines for children as young as 6 months. For many parents and pediatricians, the Food and Drug Administration clearing of two vaccines — one by Moderna and the other by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech — comes as a huge relief.
Friday’s authorizations arrived two days after a panel of external advisers unanimously recommended that the agency greenlight vaccines for the last age group eligible for a shot of protection against the virus. “Many parents, caregivers and clinicians have been waiting for a vaccine for younger children and this action will help protect those down to 6 months of age,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said in a statement. “As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death.”
The vaccines for young children arrive at a critical moment in the nation’s quest to vanquish the virus, with vaccination levels overall flagging even as covid-19 hospitalizations reach their highest average level in more than three months. And they come a few months before the fall which, along with the winter, could feature another deadly surge of covid cases. Many parents with babies and young children see the shots as critical to resuming their pre-pandemic lives, without frequent disruptions to day-care schedules or family celebrations. Several parents said they intend to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.
Their first opportunity, if all goes as expected, will be early next week, following what are expected to be favorable recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday. “This is a very important moment,” Sallie Permar, an expert in pediatric vaccines at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said. “Children and their parents have been waiting since the pandemic began to have a tool to prevent disease.” Yet indications are that initial uptake of the vaccines will be low. In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey, only 18 percent said they plan to get their children vaccinated right away, while 27 percent said they will “definitely not” get their child vaccinated.
My thought on this: None of it is glamorous. It is a job that apparently needs to be done and one that I do my part at the local level by getting the vaccine and getting out to do other things afterwards. As to whether there is a benefit throughout or after the climate crisis and COVID is over so be it. I'm not expecting one but if there is that is great too.Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously on Saturday in support of recommending the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines to children as young as 6 months.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will have to sign off before vaccines can be administered, which could happen as early as next week.
Pediatricians are preparing to administer the nation’s first coronavirus vaccines for children under 5 in coming days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off Saturday on giving the shots to as many as 19 million children across the United States.
The endorsement from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to vaccinate all children as young as 6 months old against the virus came less than two hours after the agency’s vaccine advisory panel unanimously recommended two vaccines — one by Moderna and the other by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech.
“Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nations fight against COVID-19,” Walensky said in a statement. “We know millions of parents and caregivers are eager to get their young children vaccinated, and with today’s decision, they can."