Fauci: US likely to start vaccinating young children in 2022

There will likely be enough data on COVID-19 vaccine safety to start administering it to children ages 12 and under during the first quarter of 2022, CNBC reported March 17. 

"For high school students, it looks like they will be able to get vaccinated in the beginning of the fall, very likely for the fall term," Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said during a March 17 hearing with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

"With regard to children, we're doing an age de-escalation study in elementary school children from 12 to 9, 9 to 6, 6 to 2 and 6 months to 2 years," Dr. Fauci added. "We anticipate we'll have enough data to be able to vaccinate these younger children by the first quarter of 2022." 

Moderna said March 16 that it started administering its messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 6 months to 11 years as part of a clinical trial. Moderna plans to enroll about 6,750 children in the study. 

Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna have each begun testing their vaccines in adolescents ages 12 and older, with results pending. 

The Pfizer vaccine is currently the only one authorized for use in adolescents ages 16 and up. 

 

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