As the U.S. continues to try and vaccinate as much of the population as possible against COVID-19, parents are still wondering when it will be safe for children to get their shots.
None of the COVID-19 vaccines being used in the U.S. has been approved for use on children. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use in people 16 and older, and Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines are limited to adults.
“There are many children in the U.S. and around the world and right now none of them have access to vaccines,” said Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security on KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert" program.
“But we do know that children can be infected with SARS-CoV-2 and they can spread it to others, so it’s going to be crucial that we start vaccinating children as soon as we learn that the vaccines are safe and effective for use in pediatric populations.”
There are clinical trials going on right now to test if vaccines are safe for use in children.
Dr. Rasmussen says that there is no particular reason to believe that any of the vaccines would not be safe and effective in children, but results on adults cannot be extrapolated to children.
“It’s very difficult to determine efficacy in a pediatric population the way that it was determined for adults because children have a much lower incidence of symptomatic disease altogether, and severe disease in children is very, very rare,” she said.
Additionally, the FDA requires that new vaccines be tested in children because their immune systems are still developing and may react differently than adults.
No vaccine is expected to be approved for use in children for several more months.
Dr. Rasmussen says once a vaccine is approved, it will set off another rush to distribute it as quickly as possible.
“We really should make sure that they’re safe, but we also need to start vaccinating children as soon as we determine that they are.”
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