Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has signed off on administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11.
Walensky's final approval came after the Food and Drug Administration authorized and a CDC panel formally recommended shots for kids — a dose that is a third of the amount given to teenagers and adults. There are 28 million American children between the ages of 5 and 11, and this is their first opportunity to get vaccinated against COVID.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
President Biden praised the decision as a "turning point," which will "allow parents to end months of anxious worrying about their kids, and reduce the extent to which children spread the virus to others. It is a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus."
The CDC said the vaccination of children should begin "as soon as possible," with kids getting two doses three weeks apart, administered via a smaller needle. Pediatric vials have orange caps, so they are not mixed up with the vials that are meant for adults and have purple caps, The Associated Press reports. Pfizer's study of 2,268 kids found that the smaller dose is almost 91 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Cytomegalovirus can cause permanent birth defectsThe Explainer The virus can show no symptoms in adults
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
