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The United States has begun its COVID vaccination rollout for children ages 6 months to 5-years-old.
President Joe Biden referred to the issuing of COVID vaccines to young children as a “monumental step forward” during a press conference on June 21.
“This is a very historic milestone,” Biden noted before highlighting that “the United States is now the first country in the world to offer safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines” for the young age group.
“Nearly every American can now have access to life-saving vaccines,” the president emphasized.
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The rollout comes after the FDA’s recent expansion of emergency use authorizations “for Moderna’s vaccine to include children 6 months through 17 years, and Pfizer/BioNTech’s for children 6 months through 4 years,” CNN reports.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, gave her recommendation that children under 5 receive COVID vaccinations on June 18.
Even still, Walensky shared with CNN on June 21 her feeling that the CDC still has “much work underway” to reassure many parents the COVID vaccine is safe for their kids.
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For other caretakers, the opportunity to vaccinate their children is welcomed and comes after a long, anxious wait.
Back in late May, Pfizer and BioNTech shared that receiving three pediatric doses of their COVID-19 vaccine is 80.3 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections and producing a strong immune response in children ages 6 months to 4-years-old.
Relatedly, Moderna had proposed a two-shot regimen of its vaccine for young children to federal officials.
Moderna claims it offers a 51 percent efficacy in preventing illness in those six months to 2 years old and 37 percent efficacy in kids 2-5 years old.
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