2 pieces of breaking news!
The FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine today for adolescents ages 12 to 15. It already had an EUA from the FDA for 16 years old and up.
The Pfizer adolescent vaccine is not yet a done deal, though.
It still has to be approved by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That committee will decide on Wednesday whether to recommend use of the vaccine in this age group and give the green light.
Most health experts have said the US needs to vaccinate children before the COVID pandemic can truly be brought under control. The 12-to-15-year-old group represents 17 million people, about 5% of the population. Thus far, 58% of US adults have had at least one dose of a vaccine and 34.8% of all Americans are fully vaccinated.
The American Academies of Pediatrics and Family Practice agree that “the vaccine is a hopeful sign that adolescents will be able to begin to experience all the activities that are so important for their health and development”.
Pfizer submitted data to the FDA in late March showing its mRNA vaccine was 100% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection in children ages 12 to 15 in clinical trials.
Children tend to have milder Covid-19 disease than adults but it is still not a benign disease in this age group. Thousands of children have been hospitalized, and hundreds have died.
Moderna and Johnson and Johnson/Janssen are also doing trials in people under 18 and are expected to request approval later in the summer. This is great news for getting back to school in September.
The other piece of breaking news is that even though I requested Johnson and Johnson, Moderna was delivered this morning. Not a big deal, apparently just a glitch in the (government) system. So we will have J and J next week. You can make an appointment for either at my office. Moderna has to be in batches of ten so I will give those out on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Stay tuned!
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