US health agency advisers to vote on Covid-19 vaccine in young children
The US could begin administering Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine to children aged five to 11 as soon as Wednesday after a panel of outside experts votes today (Tuesday) on how broadly the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should recommend its use in the age group, reports Reuters.
“Over the next couple of days, several million doses will start arriving at local pediatricians and family doctors' offices, pharmacies, children's hospitals, community health centres, rural health clinics and other locations,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said at a press briefing.
Zients said the US has enough supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for all 28 million children aged five to 11. While some children may be able to get their first shots as soon as Wednesday, Zients said the US paediatric vaccine programme will be running at full strength by next week.