Vaccination of children in the U.S. is scheduled to begin next week

The widespread vaccination of children between the ages of five and 11 will begin in the United States next week, but the first vaccinations for this age group may begin in the coming days. Jeffrey Zients, the White House Coordinator for Countering the Spread of Coronavirus, said this at a briefing on Monday.

The Food and Drug Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has authorized vaccination of children 5-11 years old with a vaccine made by the U.S. company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech. As Zints explained, U.S. authorities are waiting for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make their recommendations soon, after which vaccination of this age group can begin. “We are not sitting idly by while we wait for a decision. Thanks to the actions of U.S. President Joe Biden, we have secured enough vaccines for all 28 million children between the ages of 5 and 11,” Zients said, stressing that the process of distributing the drugs across the country is already underway.

“Although vaccinations may begin later this week, the program will continue to gain momentum. Beginning the week of Nov. 8, the childhood vaccination program will be fully up and running and established. Starting next week, our vaccination program for children ages 5 to 11 will be in full operation,” Jeffrey Zients added.