Children are now in the spotlight in the coronavirus struggle. Pfizer wants to expand its COVID-19 vaccine to people as young as 12 years old and has asked the FDA for permission to do so.
The request comes because children are believed to be at the center of the latest increase in COVID-19 cases, Michael George reports for “CBS This Morning: Saturday.”
“There are concerns about transmission in youth sports, both club sports and sports affiliated with schools,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
In Michigan, which is leading the number of cases per day this week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has called for a two-week break for kids’ sports and to eat inside.
“Life depends on it,” she said Friday. “Michigan is undoubtedly a national hot spot right now.”
But in New York, Coney Island was inaugurated.
“You can’t feel New York City, you can’t understand New York City until you come to Coney Island,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.
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As schools want to reopen, the CDC has stressed that safety guidelines must be followed.
“We have not yet seen evidence of significant COVID-19 transmission within schools when schools have fully implemented CDC mitigation guidelines,” said Walensky of the CDC.
More than 68 million people, or about 20% of adults in the US, are now fully vaccinated, and more than one in three Americans – just over 114 million people – have received at least one COVID shot.
Minuscule percentages of side effects have been reported. Each of the three major vaccine manufacturers reported that a remarkably low rate of 0.1% of recipients had side effects.
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