Children aged 12 to 16 to receive Pfizer vaccine says FDA

Starting Thursday, children aged 12 to 15 will begin receiving the Covid-19 vaccine as authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. This move by FDA will increase the number of Americans immunized as the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine gets approved for use in younger teens. Presently, the Pfizer vaccine is only available for 18 and above Americans.

According to the White House, President Joe Biden’s administration is ready to use nearly 20,000 pharmacies as vaccination sites for the adolescent when FDA approves the plan.

The director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Dr. Peter Marks, indicated that children aged 12 will begin receiving their vaccine shot “as soon as Thursday.”

Adults Americans have been receiving two Pfizer vaccine doses three weeks apart, and a similar rollout will be carried on such kids. This is “a significant step in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, said Dr. Janet Woodcock, FDA acting commissioner.” She continued to say that the move “allows for a younger population to be protected from Covid-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic.”

On the other hand, children have not experienced the burden of coronavirus, but older adults have. However, this group can be infected by adults and pass the disease to others. Thus it’s important for them to be immunized to protect their grandparents, parents, siblings, and others.

While the authorization will be applied nationwide and its territories, the state rules and regulations will be used. Therefore, in states where the law doesn’t allow pharmacies and some sites to give shots to this younger population, the vaccines will be availed via pediatricians’ offices and community centers.  

The vaccine is 100 % effective and safe for children. However, parents are advised that children are likely to experience minimal side effects such as a sore arm and slight fever.

It’s important for the government to be transparent in the entire vaccination processing to improve trust and motivate those who are still hesitant to go for their vaccine shot. The more young people are vaccinated, the safer it is to reopen schools because it will allow them to resume their face-to-face learning.

Other ongoing studies by different vaccine makers like Johnson & Johnson is studying whether children can be injured with the one-dose vaccine shot. Moderna and Pfizer are also studying whether kids up to 6 months can receive the vaccine shot. The results of these studies will be made available to the public before the end of 2021.