The path to approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5-11 years old hit the home stretch Tuesday. An influential panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the vaccine just days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the vaccine for that age group.
“Today is a monumental day in the course of this pandemic,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told the advisory panel Tuesday. She gave final approval Tuesday night. The video above shows her comments during debate, as well as the final vote.
The U.S. government and Pfizer have both been preparing for the CDC to give the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine the go-ahead to be used in kids 5-11 years old. Last month, the White House announced it had already secured the doses required to vaccinate all 28 million kids in that age group.
“Governors and leaders of tribes and territories have been working with their teams to ensure that doses are distributed efficiently and equitably across their jurisdictions,” White House COVID Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said at a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing Monday.
Pfizer has gotten ready as well, packing and shipping millions of its COVID-19 vaccine doses the company hopes will be used on kids 5-11 years old. The video above also shows some of that progress being made over the weekend.
“Over the next couple of days, several million doses will start arriving at local pediatricians and family doctors’ offices, pharmacies, children’s hospitals, community health centers, rural health clinics and other locations,” Zients said Monday. “More doses will be packed and shipped and delivered each and every day over the next week or so, and more and more sites will come online as we ramp up.”
The risk of severe disease is lower in young children than adults. However, there have been more than 8,300 hospitalizations of kids ages 5 to 11, with about a third requiring intensive care. The CDC has recorded at least 94 deaths in that age group.
On Tuesday, Dr. Walensky highlighted the social, mental health and educational impact COVID-19 has had on kids in that age group.
“There are children in the second grade who have never experienced a normal school year,” Walensky said. “Pediatric vaccination has the power to help us change all of that.”