With the FDA’s approval for Pfizer’s COVID shot for people age 16 and older barely off the press, health officials were already predicting that children under 12 will be the next target. Those aged 12 to 15 will be approved first, Dr. Bob Frenck, director of the Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, told CNN.

After that, they will zero in on the younger children, only with smaller doses than what’s being given to adults. As far as side effects for children go, Frenck said they’re not unlike what adults have reported.

Frenck is one of the doctors participating in children’s COVID vaccine trials. His group is small: a total of 75, with 25 each in ages 6 to 12, 2 to 6 and infants to age 2. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are also starting children’s clinical trials or have them planned.

In an interview with Politico, NIH director Dr. Francis Collins said he didn’t expect children’s versions of the shot to be available before the end of 2021, although NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed he thinks the FDA will approve the shots by fall.

SOURCES:

CNN Health August 24, 2021

Politico August 24, 2021