Pfizer and Moderna conducting trials of their vaccines in children 12 and older and hope to have findings by the summer<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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FRIDAY, Feb. 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Late summer will be the earliest that children in the United States could receive COVID-19 vaccines, experts say.<\/p>\n
Pfizer and Moderna are conducting clinical trials of their vaccines in children 12 and older and hope to have findings by the summer, The New York Times<\/em> reported. Depending on the results, the companies may then test them in younger children. It typically takes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a few weeks to review data from a clinical trial and approve a vaccine. Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, and AstraZeneca also plan to test their COVID-19 vaccines in children, but are not as far along as the other two companies.<\/p>\n About one-quarter of the U.S. population is younger than 21, but that age group accounts for less than 1 percent of COVID-19 deaths. However, about 2 percent of children with COVID-19 do have to be hospitalized, and at least 227 children in the United States have died of the disease.<\/p>\n “It is a significant disease in children, just not necessarily when you compare it to adults,” Kristin Oliver, M.D., a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, told The Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n