The CDC's vaccine advisory committee is meeting on Tuesday to discuss the Pfizer vaccine for kids between the ages of 5 and 11. A vote on a recommendation is set for Tuesday afternoon, and federal officials say shots could start going out by the end of the week.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will go over safety and efficacy data from Pfizer and the CDC’s own experts. Members will also get a glimpse at the plan to distribute the doses around the country. The panel will then vote on a recommendation, which would then go to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky for consideration before she makes a final decision with her team.
"Parents should feel comforted, not just that their children will be protected, but that this vaccine has gone through the necessary and rigorous evaluation that ensures the vaccine is safe and highly effective," Walensky said during Monday’s White House COVID-19 Response briefing.
The vaccine started to move following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision on Friday to approve the kid-size doses for emergency use authorization.
"Over the next couple of days, several million doses will start arriving at local pediatricians and family doctor’s offices, pharmacies, children’s hospitals, community health centers, rural health clinics and other locations," Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 Response Team coordinator, said during the briefing.
The administration of President Joe Biden said it has secured enough doses for 28 million children in this 5-11 age group. The vials will come with orange labels and caps. The Pfizer doses that are out now, which have purple labels and caps, cannot be used, because children in the younger age group are supposed to get 10 micrograms of the vaccine, which is one-third of what older kids and adults get.
Zients said, following CDC approval, shots would begin to go out this week, but the kids' vaccination program would be "fully up and running" in the week of November 8.
"Parents will be able to schedule appointments at convenient sites they know and trust to get their kids vaccinated," Zients said.
CDC data shows that there have been around 8,300 hospitalizations among children 5-11 and one-third of patients have had to get intensive care. The FDA and Pfizer said the vaccine for children is nearly 91% effective and there were no serious side effects among the 3,100 children in the age group who are participating in an ongoing study.
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