President Joe Biden on Wednesday heralded health officials’ approval of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in young children, saying the news marked a “day of relief and celebration” for parents across the country.
Children across the country began rolling up their sleeves late Tuesday, after CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky accepted an advisory committee’s recommendation to approve a lower dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer vaccine for the age group last week.
“After almost 18 months of anxious worrying every time your child had a sniffle or started to cough — well, you can now protect them from this horrible virus” President Biden said from the White House on Wednesday, hours after touching down stateside following a visit to Europe.
There are approximately 28 million children aged 5-11 across the United States, and federal officials maintain they have more than enough supply to vaccinate the entire age group. Pfizer over the weekend began shipping millions of the pediatric shots to states, doctors’ offices and pharmacies — in orange caps, to avoid mix-ups with purple-capped vials of adult vaccine.
The full vaccination program for children should be “up and running” by Nov. 8; officials on Wednesday said parents will be able to search appointment times and locations on the federal Vaccines.gov website by Friday.
“My administration is ready,” Biden said. “We're ready from day one, today, organized and have a plan for this vaccination’s launch. As soon as next week, we'll have enough vaccines and enough places and parents will be able to schedule appointments to get their kids their first shot.”
As of Wednesday, over 6,000 vaccine clinics have been prepared for school districts across the country. The child-size dosage, which is a third of what is given to adults, will be available at around 20,000 total locations nationwide, many of which “will offer times on nights and weekends so parents can take their children to get vaccinated after work and after school,” the president said.
In the U.S., about 1.9 million kids ages 5 to 11 have been diagnosed with COVID-19. There have been more than 8,300 coronavirus-related hospitalizations of kids ages 5 to 11, about a third requiring intensive care, according to government data. The CDC has recorded at least 94 deaths in that age group, with additional reports under investigation.
The president noted on Wednesday that “while rare, children can get very sick from COVID-19,” telling parents: “Get your children vaccinated to protect themselves, to protect others, to stop the spread and to help us beat this pandemic.”
Walgreens planned to start kids’ vaccinations Saturday and said parents could sign up online or by calling 1-800-Walgreens. CVS was also accepting appointments online and by phone at select pharmacies starting Sunday.
Many locations planned mass vaccination events in the coming days. And while many pediatricians’ offices were expecting strong demand at least initially, almost two-thirds of parents recently polled by the Kaiser Family Foundation said they would wait or not seek out vaccines for their kids.
Biden spoke directly to hesitant parents in his Wednesday remarks, saying he understands that many may have more questions.
“Trusted messengers, like your pediatricians [or] family doctors, will be able to answer your questions,” he said. “We're gonna do everything we can to make these vaccines easily available, and raise awareness of the importance of getting vaccinated.”
In a study, Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine proved nearly 91% effective at preventing symptomatic infection. Vaccinated youngsters developed levels of virus-fighting antibodies as strong as teens and young adults who’d received the full-strength dose.