United States Officially Launches COVID-19 Vaccination Program For Children 5-11 Years Old

Illustration of COVID-19 vaccination for children. (Source: UNICEF/Zhang Yuwei)

JAKARTA - Seven-year-old Gael Coreas stretched out his left arm fearlessly to receive his first COVID-19 vaccine at a health clinic in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Coreas was in the first cohort of young children injected when the United States on Wednesday began administering the COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11, the latest group to qualify for an injection that provides protection against disease to recipients and other people. -people around them.

"We're so excited," said Coreas' mother, Alma Benavides, a 37-year-old small business owner, at Mary Center's in Washington.

"We waited a long time and it was very special for me," he continued as quoted by Reuters on November 4.

On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the Pfize vaccine for widespread use in this age group, four days after it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

For the initial stage, only the first 15 million doses were distributed on Wednesday local time. Next week, access to vaccines for this group is expected to expand to pediatric services, pediatric hospitals and pharmacies.

Maria Stout took her daughters Celeste (9) and Victoria (11) to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego for their first COVID-19 shot on Wednesday morning, after a friend told her the hospital's website provided vaccination services.

Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons/US Secretary of Defense)

A number of institutions are also offering COVID-19 vaccinations for the general group of 5-11 years old this weekend, such as the Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and Rite Aid.

"We already have significant demand and scheduling," CVS Chief Executive Karen Lynch said in an interview on Wednesday. CVS expects to have 2,500 outlets delivering pediatric injections starting this weekend.

While about 58 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, some 28 million children under 12 have not been eligible as of yet.

An injection of 10 micrograms of Pfizer's certified COVID-19 vaccine for school-age children, one-third the power given to teens and adults, offers protection against the Delta variant of the virus that has left thousands of children hospitalized.

Separately, infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco Dr. Monica Gandhi said consent for this age group is very important because they are school age children.

The vaccine, proven to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infection in children, paves the way for less quarantine or school closures and more normal activity and freedom.

"In primary schools, it is very difficult for them to be completely normal without this vaccine, because the teachers are worried about contagion," Gandhi said.

The launch, while too late for these kids to be fully protected, should make year-end holiday celebrations safer.

"I think people will be more comfortable in family gatherings without wearing masks because children are now also vaccinated," said Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a non-voting member of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel.

However, it is still unclear how many parents will take the opportunity. Even many who have been self-vaccinated are more divided over whether to vaccinate their younger children, given that severe COVID-19 occurs much less frequently in them.

There are no new safety concerns in studies of the Pfizer vaccine in thousands of children, but also no long-term data for its use.

Several other countries, including China, have vaccinated children. EU and Canadian regulators are currently considering the application of the Pfizer vaccine to this younger age group.

So far, only Pfizer's vaccine is authorized for use in the United States for those under the age of 16. Meanwhile, vaccine manufacturer Moderna has postponed its request for authorization of the vaccine for children aged 5-11 years, pending an FDA review of safety data regarding its application to children aged 12 to 17 years.