Child fatalities from a vaccine-preventable illness such as Covid-19, regardless of how few, serve as justification for the approval of vaccination in children, according to the senior vaccine official at the US FDA on Tuesday.
According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention in the United States, 645 children have died as a result of Covid-19.
FDA Vaccines Chief Says Of Covid-19 Fatalities Among US Children
Although children under the age of 18 accounts for 22 percent of the US population, they represent 27 percent of all cases nationwide, as per data released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
New infections among children continue to be “exceptionally high,” according to the organization, which stated that While the severity and fatality of those situations are less frequent, children may experience long-term effects as a result of their illness.
A vaccine is only offered to children who are 12 years old or older. Health officials, on the other hand, are hopeful that this will soon change. In a statement issued Friday, the US FDA said that its vaccine advisors would meet on October 26 to examine Pfizer’s vaccination study results among children aged 5 to 11. There will still be a few processes to be completed before the vaccine may be approved. In order to vote on a vaccination recommendation, the FDA vaccine advisors would have to make one first.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would then have to provide its approval before youngsters between the ages of 5 and 11 could begin receiving vaccinations. According to Dr. Megan Ranney, the Assistant Dean of Strategy and Innovation for the Department of Public Health at Brown University, “the majority of us in the public health community anticipate seeing approvals of vaccinations for these younger age groups somewhere in early November.”
Furthermore, if a vaccine is given access to smaller kids, it would be up to the parents to determine whether or not to administer it, which might prove to be a barrier. Only around one-third of the population Parental attitudes about vaccination among children aged 5 to 11 years old have improved, with 34% saying they will vaccinate their kid as soon the Covid-19 vaccine becomes ready for that age range, according to Kaiser Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor data released on Thursday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, preteens and adolescents continue to have the lowest Covid-19 immunization rates of any age group. Doctor Peter Hotez, Dean of Medical Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that only approximately a third of children between the ages of 12 and 17 had received a flu vaccination in the southern United States.
Infection rates are decreasing across the country. After weeks of alarming Covid-19 outbreaks across the United States, infection rates have finally begun to drop. Still, doctors believe more work has to be done first before the tide could be turned, particularly because the number of cases among youngsters continues to be exceptionally high.
The Johns Hopkins University Center for Infection Control and Prevention reports that around 105,054 persons get new Covid-19 infections on a daily basis on average. That figure is around 12,000 lower than average from the previous week. Experts are debating whether the drop represents a natural ebb and flow of instances or the beginning of the end of high case numbers.