PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The CEO of Pfizer says he expects COVID-19 vaccines to be available for young kids "by the end of the year." Albert Bourla made that prediction at a live event hosted by The Atlantic.
Pfizer plans to apply soon for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in kids as young as 5. The company announced Tuesday that it has submitted trial data to the FDA.
Dr. Lee Savio Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, tells KYW Newsradio that parents can rest assured that the vaccine is safe.
"You know, in all of our history of working with vaccines, ... dating back 70-plus years, we've really not seen any vaccine that had side effects that that didn't become apparent within the first six to eight weeks after giving the vaccine," Beers said.
"So, I think ... that should help parents feel really reassured about about the fact that the vaccine is safe and effective and will be safe and effective in the long term as well."
Early on in the pandemic, it became apparent that the coronavirus did not seem to have the kind of universal effect on young kids that it did on the rest of the population. That games change now, though, with the delta variant.
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Beers says there are a couple important things to emphasize.
"By and large, children will do well with coronavirus, but a small percentage of them will not," she said. "And with the delta variant being so much more contagious, that means lots more kids are getting affected and it means lots more kids will get seriously ill."
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Listen to the entire conversation in the latest episode of the KYW Newsradio In Depth podcast on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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