The US should have vaccine safety data on high school children by early fall, but probably not on younger children until early next year, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday.
Companies have just started testing younger age groups, but have tested their vaccines on 12 to 17-year-olds, Fauci told a White House briefing.
“You know from Pfizer that they started the process from 34,000 individuals to 16-year-olds, and then moved on to 12-year-olds. So what they are going to do in April, starting in April, is they are going to study 12 year olds to 5-6 year olds, ”Fauci said.
“That will probably take a year to get the information on that – probably only in the first quarter,” added Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and also the chief medical adviser to the White House.
“However, we expect data on high school-aged individuals by early fall, namely individuals 12 to 17 years old. Maybe not exactly coinciding with the first day of school, but we’ll have that sometime in the fall, ”added Fauci.
Companies can test their vaccines on fewer children because they have adult safety and efficacy data, Fauci said. So the gist of all of this is as follows. It is very likely that we will have data sometime in the fall that will allow us to say safety and comparable efficacy in children 12 to 17 and 18 years old, ”he added.
“But then again, with the studies I just mentioned, to get the information to make the decision in elementary school children, will almost certainly not be confirmed until the first quarter of 2022.”
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