When will children be able to get COVID-19 vaccines? - MLive.com

When will children be able to get COVID-19 vaccines?

That depends on the age, but according to new reporting from the Associated Press, the time for teenagers to get their shots could be coming soon.

Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is cleared for use starting at age 16 and the Moderna vaccine is cleared for people 18 and older.

Pfizer and Moderna both have completed enrollment for studies of children ages 12 and older, and expect to release the data over the summer, according to the Associated Press.

Experts say testing younger groups is more complex, because they may require a different dose or have differing responses from adults.

“Children are not just small adults,” pediatrician Dr. James Campbell of the University of Maryland School of Medicine told the Associated Press. “The younger you get, the higher the odds are that things could be different.”

And while the numbers support the idea that children aren’t developing serious illness or dying from COVID-19 at the same rate as adults, they can still spread the virus.

“There’s no question: we do want to immunize children,” Drexel University pediatrics professor Dr. Sarah Long told the Associated Press.

Pfizer and Moderna expect to start studies in children 11 and younger later this year, the AP reported.

“It’s unlikely we could get community protection without immunizing children,” Long added. “This is the lynchpin to getting everything back to some kind of normalcy.”

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