United States: COVID-19 vaccine for children could be approved before the end of the year

Vaccination of children is the next big step that countries will have to take to complete the immunization of their populations. In this sense, the Pfizer and Moderna laboratories are carrying out clinical trials in children between 5 and 11 years old. and they hope that before the end of the year they will have concluded the tests and emergency authorization requests are submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

An FDA official has confirmed to the US press that the authorization of use for children under 12 years of age it could happen just a couple of weeks after the labs submit the request.

The agency also reported that the plan is that once the vaccine is approved for minors in a way that emergency (as has happened with adults), they expect to work faster than usual on full approval. Apparently, Through various surveys conducted by the agency, they have determined that several parents express concern about giving their children a vaccine that does not have final approval.

Until now, no COVID-19 vaccine has received full approvalrather, it is an emergency approval for use in over 12 years old. Pfizer is the only laboratory that so far has requested full approval of the vaccine for those over 18, something that according to the FDA could happen in a matter of days.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna began their clinical studies in children in March. According to calculations, they should be over by autumn. When dealing with minors, the protocols are more rigorous.

The United States health authorities require pharmaceutical companies to provide data for at least four months monitoring in minors, indicating that ideally they should be six months. In the case of adult vaccines, experimentally, it is enough with data collected during only two months.

The additional months required for minors logically delay the emergency approval process, but they make full approval simpler. For this type of full approval, a minimum of six months human research and testing.

In the case of children between two and five years, the studies take longer, and even more the tests for those between six months and two years. Among minors so young the vaccine would not be ready until at least mid 2022.

With the return to face-to-face classes and the Delta variant, much more contagious, there is concern for children. Yes OK they are not at risk population, they can catch and spread. And since they are not vaccinated, They are a population that experts say should be paid attention to.

Until the beginning of July, according to data from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control, according to its acronym in English), more than four million children have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States, that is to say 14.2% of all those infected. The Pediatric Association of the United States has reported that since the pandemic was declared, a total of 335 children under the age of 17 have died as a result of the coronavirus.

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