CDC Director: Agencies working on COVID-19 vaccine for children

A COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 12 could be available as soon as the end of the year. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters Monday that health agencies are urgently working on a vaccine for younger children between the ages of 5 to 11-years-old. 

“We’re waiting for the companies to submit the data to the FDA, we’re anticipating that will happen in the fall,” she told the “Today Show” on Sept. 13. “We will look at that data from the FDA, from the CDC, with the urgency that we all feel for getting our kids vaccinated and we’re hoping by the end of the year.”

Walensky’s statements draw a sharp contrast with numerous international health advisory boards which so far have not endorsed administering a COVID-19 vaccine to children. In the U.S. the Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency authorization to vaccinate children ages 12 to 17. 

According to the Epoch Times, if the FDA approves a vaccine for children under 12, some school districts will require it in order to attend in-person instruction. The nation’s second-largest school system, the Los Angeles Unified School District, voted just last week that students ages 12 to 17 needed to show proof of vaccination prior to attending in-person instruction. District officials have already hinted at a similar mandate when the recommendation comes out for younger children.