Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA.
Kevin Dietsch | Reuters
The US could begin vaccinating older children against Covid-19 this fall, while elementary-age children may be able to get their shot early next year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Officer, told lawmakers Wednesday.
“For high school students, it looks like they will be available to get vaccinated in the early fall, most likely before the fall period,” Fauci told lawmakers during a hearing with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Fauci said researchers will likely have enough data on immunizations for younger children – 12 years and under – to start giving them photos in the first quarter of 2022.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines for people 18 and older, while Pfizer’s vaccine can be used in people as young as 16 years old.
Pharmacists are quickly testing their coronavirus vaccines in children to determine if they are safe and effective. Both Pfizer and Moderna started testing their vaccines in adolescents late last year.
Moderna said Tuesday it has begun to administer younger children in a mid- to late-stage study to determine whether the vaccine, mRNA-1273, can be used to immunize children between six months and 12 years old. The study, which will include approximately 6,750 children in the United States and Canada, will test the company’s two-dose vaccine 28 days apart.
However, Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, said in January that he does not expect data from children under the age of 12 to be ready before 2022, although he expects more information on the performance of the vaccines in individuals aged 12 and over by September. older.
“I don’t think the studies will be long,” Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA Vaccines Advisory Committee, told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” Tuesday.
“I think for children over 12 it is very likely that we could have vaccines for them by the summer, and for children who are younger, it is possible that we can have it by the end of this year, early next year have, ”said Offit.
A Pfizer spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the company’s claims in testing the vaccine in younger children.