Watch a live stream of the CDC committee's meeting in the video player above.
A panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's outside vaccine advisers is meeting Tuesday to discuss and vote on whether to recommend use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 5. It is one of the last remaining regulatory steps before shots could begin for some 28 million kids.
The White House says millions of vials of Pfizer's lower-dose vaccine formulated for younger children have already begun shipping to health care providers following the Food and Drug Administration's authorization last week. The children's vaccine will come in new packaging to differentiate the smaller 10 microgram doses from the 30 micrograms offered to people ages 12 and up.
However, under federal supply agreements governing the shots, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will need to weigh in and issue formal recommendations following the panel's meeting before vaccinators can begin using Pfizer's new doses for kids.
"Throughout the pandemic, this committee has convened many times to review the latest data and provide their trusted expertise. And I, along with many others, am looking forward to the scientific discussion and deliberation that will take place," Walensky told reporters on Monday.
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is expected to consider many of the same issues that the FDA's advisers wrestled with last week, weighing the need for Pfizer's shots to curb the pandemic against the potential risk of rare cases of heart inflammation side effects.
The CDC is expected to present data on myocarditis to the panel on Tuesday afternoon, in addition to hearing from other health officials and Pfizer about the vaccine and the state of the pandemic. The ACIP's vote is scheduled between 4:15 and 5 p.m. EST.
While younger children are far less likely to face a severe case of COVID-19, studies show they can be just as likely as adults to catch and spread the disease. Thousands of children aged 5 to 11 years old have been hospitalized with the disease, many may face long-term side effects from their sickness, and 172 have died.
Widespread vaccination among young children could also help reduce the risk of outbreaks in schools and head off new waves of the virus, though the CDC said more than 40% of these younger children could already have some antibodies from surviving a prior infection.
Last week the FDA's advisers voted nearly unanimously to support authorizing access to the shot, but some also called on their CDC counterparts to consider narrower recommendations for which younger children should get vaccinated — perhaps limiting it to kids who are at higher risk.
"I want to make sure that the children who really need this vaccine, primarily the Black and Brown children in our country, get the vaccine. But to be honest, the best way to protect the health of some kids would be to do nothing at all, because they're going to be just fine," said Dr. James Hildreth, one of the FDA's advisers.
While the CDC director has traditionally deferred to the ACIP's recommendations, Walensky "shocked" some of the panel's members in September in deciding to expand eligibility for booster shots for adults. Walensky said those at risk of exposure based on where they lived or worked could receive the shots, after a majority of the advisers voted against it.
"If I said, you are not eligible, this population is not eligible, they would not be eligible. They would not have access to it. And so I didn't feel like, in this moment, I should deny access to a booster for people who are in that category," Walensky explained last month at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Walensky has rejected descriptions of her move as "overruling" the panel, describing it as a "close call" among the advisers.
If the shots for younger children are ultimately greenlighted by the CDC, federal health officials say they have been preparing to roll out a public relations campaign to help educate parents and boost confidence in the vaccine. Less than a third of parents told a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey they would get their young children vaccinated as soon as the shots are available.
Providers and health officials have also been preparing for weeks to meet a potential surge in demand from parents already eager to have their children vaccinated. Up to 15 million doses are expected to be shipped out over the next week, White House officials said, with the vaccination effort hitting "full strength" next week.
Once the rollout begins, parents will be able to find a vaccination site near them on the website vaccines.gov. The vaccinations for children will be free.
Vaccinators have undergone new training for handling and preparing Pfizer's new kid-sized doses. Jurisdictions and providers have been updating their IT systems to prepare for scheduling and tracking the new shots.
"Logistically where the vaccine is going has already been mapped out for the first week, and those providers who are receiving the vaccine are approved and enrolled providers. They should have already completed the training and are familiar with the vaccine packaging and know how to handle it," says Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.
Up to 5 million of the first wave of doses are expected to go to the pharmacies that have handled much of the recent vaccination effort, says Hannan. The remaining 10 million is being split up among other providers, from hospitals and doctors to health departments.
"Doing all of this behind-the-scenes work has been going on for months," Hannan says.
Article From & Read More ( CDC advisers to vote on Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 5 - CBS News )https://ift.tt/3mDMmUY
Business
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "CDC advisers to vote on Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 5 - CBS News"
Post a Comment