WASHINGTON—The country’s top public-health experts on Sunday predicted a rapid rollout of the coronavirus vaccine for younger children if regulators move quickly to give their approval in the coming weeks.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was possible that the vaccines would be available for children from ages 5 to 11 by early November.
“If you look at the data that’s been made public and announced by the company, the data looked good as to the efficacy and the safety” of the vaccines, Dr. Fauci said Sunday on ABC.
U.S. health officials are still in the process of weighing whether to authorize the shots for use in children of that age group.
Dr. Fauci laid out a potential timeline for the vaccine rollout for children days before a committee of experts advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to meet to discuss the shot’s effectiveness in children, along with potential health risks.
On Friday, FDA officials said the vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE met the agency’s criteria for immune responses in a study for younger children. Specifically, the agency said the vaccine was 90.7% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in a study of 5- to 11-year-olds.
A panel of vaccine experts that advises the FDA is expected to discuss the results in depth on Tuesday and could vote to recommend that the FDA authorize the drug’s use.
The vaccine use would also need additional review from officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, it’s entirely possible, if not very likely, that vaccines will be available for children from 5-11 within the first week or two of November,” Dr. Fauci said.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that federal officials already had plans for the logistics of the rollout.
“We know how many parents are interested in getting their children between 5-11 vaccinated, and we intend to act as quickly as we can,” she said.
Even if approvals come quickly, U.S. officials will still have to confront parents who are hesitant about the vaccine’s safety and might not allow their children to get it right away. Dr. Walensky said that those officials will have to work to educate parents about the vaccine’s safety just as they did nearly a year ago after it was approved for adult use.
“We have to do all of that hard work again,” she said.
Asked by Fox News host Chris Wallace for advice on Halloween, Dr. Walensky said: “put on those costumes, stay outside and enjoy your trick or treating.”
“If you’re spread out doing your trick or treating, that should be very safe for your children,” she said.
Write to Katy Stech Ferek at [email protected]
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Appeared in the October 25, 2021, print edition as ‘Quick Rollout Seen For Child Vaccine.’
