COVID-19 vaccine will be available for children in the United States in November

A coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 may be introduced in the United States in the first two weeks of November. Anthony Fauci, chief infectious disease specialist in the United States, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said this in an interview with ABC television on Sunday.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will consider using a drug made by U.S. company Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech to vaccinate children 5 to 11 years old this week. Fauci said he hopes these discussions will culminate in approval of the drug and that it will be available in early November for the 28 million young U.S. residents who have not yet had a chance to be vaccinated against the dangerous virus.

“No one wants to preempt FDA regulatory decisions or get ahead of them or their recommendations, but if you look at the data already released by the FDA, you see that it appears favorable regarding the efficacy and safety of this drug.”

Last Friday, the FDA notified that it considers the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine appropriate, at least in certain cases, for children in this age group. This follows from materials published on the website of the regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. On October 26 the possibility of mass application of the vaccine to children will be considered by the profile committee of the regulator. In the case of a positive decision, the drug will become the first vaccine for U.S. minors. Earlier it received such certification for vaccination of children from 12 to 15 years old and was approved for use in minors aged 16 years and older.

Fauci said he hopes the FDA will give its approval and refer the matter to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) federal advisory panel for its subsequent recommendation Nov. 2-3, to be signed by the head of the federal centers.

“If all goes well and we get regulatory approval and recommendations from the CDC, which is very possible, if not very likely, these vaccines will be available to children ages 5 to 11 within the first week of November or two,” Anthony Fauci said.