SAN DIEGO — A COVID-19 vaccine could be available for kids under the age of 12 as soon as next week. On Tuesday, an FDA advisory committee voted in favor of an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine for kids between 5 and 11 years old. Wednesday morning, California health officials held a call to bring Californians up to speed on the rollout.
The shots that will be given to kids are a third of the dose of the full vaccine adults are given. Doctors hope, with the full approval and rollout coming soon, that kids between 5 and 11 years old could be completely vaccinated by Christmas.
Cassie Swartwout has small kids who go to school in the San Diego Unified School District.
"There's risk with any medication you take," she said. "There's a risk with any vaccine. It's just that those risks are low and they're far lower than the actual illness themselves usually. Every time you get like a minor cold, they're missing a lot of school so the vaccine is very welcome. I'd love for as many kids to get it as possible."
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's Secretary of Health and Human Services and Dr. Erica Pan, an epidemiologist with the California Department of Health hosted a briefing to update Californians on the rollout. The pair said although it's rare, there have been 35 pediatric deaths in the state of California from COVID-19. The doctors also say that the FDA advisory panel’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5-11 is a step in the right direction in beating COVID in California. Dr. Pan said 860,000 vaccines have been ordered for California kids so far.
Cassie Swartwout said that's music to her ears because her husband is immunocompromised and their small children have been ineligible for the vaccine to protect them from getting the virus and possibly passing it on to their father.
"[I hope] more kids get [the vaccine] and we can hopefully have our case numbers drop and ease up on some of the restrictions in the community and the school," she said.
Lisa Delano-Wood is a cofounder of Californians for Safe Schools, which fought to implement COVID restrictions to keep kids safe in class. She said vaccinating kids against COVID-19 is the right thing to do.
"The reality is we're not going to get out of this pandemic unless we have a very high percentage of our population vaccinated and kids make up a large chunk of our population," she said. "But if you look at the data, which I think people are forgetting to do, or they're going down these YouTube rabbit holes and believing much of the information that's on the internet and has been debunked thoroughly."
COVID restrictions, the vaccine and vaccine mandates have been a contentious talking point across the country. Not all parents are on board with vaccinating kids. However, nearly 90% of San Diego County residents age 12 and up have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
The CDC still needs to approve the vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11 and that approval could come before the end of October. Schools will also become vaccine sites for kids by mid-November if the current plan is approved. Right now, schools are partnering with the State of California and pharmacies across the state to make that happen.
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