When can children get the COVID-19 vaccine?

5 questions parents are asking

The first United States COVID-19 vaccines have begun, after states have drawn up plans for who should get vaccinated first.

But one important group is absent — children.

While vaccines have been cleared for adult use in the United States, testing is only now getting started with children — and only with adolescents. There are still a lot of unknowns.

As an infectious disease pharmacist and professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York, who helps manage patients hospitalized with COVID-19, I frequently hear questions about vaccines. Here’s what we know and don’t know in response to some common questions about vaccinating kids for COVID-19.

When can my child be vaccinated?

Right now, it appears unlikely that a vaccine will be ready for children before the start of the next school year in August.

Adult trials of the two leading vaccines have had promising results. On Dec. 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee recommended the FDA authorize Pfizer’s vaccine for use in people age 16 and older, though there were some concerns about including 16- and 17-year-olds without more data. The British government is already vaccinating people 16 and older with it, and Canada has authorized the vaccine for the same age range.

But clinical trials involving children are only just getting started.

Pfizer, working with Germany’s BioNTech, expanded its COVID-19 vaccine testing to children ages 12 and older only in October. The other leading vaccine maker, Moderna, announced on Dec. 2 that it planned to begin COVID-19 vaccine trials in children ages 12 to 17 soon.

The vaccine’s efficacy and safety will have to be evaluated for each age group, and testing hasn’t started for infants, toddlers or kids in the U.S.

Clinical trials are designed to ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective.

Just vaccinating adults would not be enough to end the pandemic. Children can still become infected, transmit the virus and develop complications. If a vaccine is not available, children will likely serve as a reservoir of the virus, making it harder to end the pandemic.

Typically, it takes 10 to 15 years from the start of develop

COURTESY OF THE CDC While vaccines have been cleared for adult use in the United States, testing is only now getting started with children — and only with adolescents. There are still a lot of unknowns.