November 10, 2021 – Over 360,000 kids under the age of 12 in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, according to a report from The Washington Post. This comes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric COVID-19 vaccine for 5-to-11-year-olds on October 29.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then recommended the use of the coronavirus vaccination on November 2.
This is the result of the recent push for wider vaccinations in wider age groups. While there have been numerous discussions about authorizing a booster shot for people ages 18 and older, the pediatric vaccination is the latest development in the vaccine campaign.
While we likely won’t see many schools mandate coronavirus vaccines for their students during the emergency use authorization phase, that could change if the pediatric vaccine gains full regulatory approval.
The Biden administration has secured enough doses for every child in the United States between the ages of 5 and 11 and will likely “ramp up distribution this week in pediatrician’s offices, pharmacies, and school clinics as reports emerge of insufficient supply in some areas.”
In early November, President Biden urged parents of children ages and above, saying, “Please get them vaccinated. Because here’s the deal: Children make up one quarter of the cases in this country. And while rare, children can get very sick from COVID-19. And some can end up – few – but end up hospitalized. But they don’t have to.”