Wednesday 15 June 2022 04:37 PM FDA panel meets today to consider approving vaccines for children aged six ... trends now
Covid vaccines could be rolled out to children aged six months to five years in just a few days as a panel of experts at the Food and Drug Administration meets today to consider approving the shots, despite some scientists warning they are not needed for the age group.
Members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee convened at 9.30am today to debate whether the benefits of Moderna and Pfizer outweigh the risks for America's 18million under-5s.
They are widely expected to sign-off on both shots, in the first stage of the four-part process that will also see them examined by FDA chiefs tomorrow and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday and Saturday.
America is steaming ahead in approving jabs for the youngest children despite opposition from some scientists who say youngsters face a vanishingly small risk of dying from Covid and that there is little demand for the shots. Under-5s account for just 0.05 percent of America's more than a million Covid deaths, while nationally less than a third of five to 11-year-olds who are eligible for two doses of the Covid vaccine have got the shots.
If approved, it is thought the U.S. would become the first country to offer shots against the pandemic virus for children less than two years old. Cuba has been vaccinated children as young as two years since October, while Chile and China are offering the shots to everyone over the age of three years.
It comes as national Covid cases continue to plateau at about 107,000 a day, while deaths fall 36 percent to a seven-day average of 374 and hospitalizations also remain steady.
But new Omicron subvariants — scientifically named BA.4 and BA.5 — are spreading quickly in the U.S., now accounting for up to three in ten infections in some areas. It is feared they could trigger a rebound in cases, although there is no evidence that they are more likely to cause severe disease or death.
Members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met today to consider whether to approve Moderna and Pfizer's shots for children aged six months to five years. Pictured is Dr Peter Marks at the meeting who heads up vaccine approval at the FDA at the meeting today. On the right is a graph showing the number of hospitalizations among children under four years with the most recent Omicron wave shown in grey. He said that just because there was a small number of deaths in the age group, people should not become desensitivized to the risk it posed to children
Covid cases in the US have plateaued for the sixth day in a row, with the seven-day average now standing at about 107,000 new cases every day. It comes as new Omicron subvariants gain ground in the country
Covid deaths dropped 33 percent yesterday compared to the same time last week, with about 374 now being registered daily
