Doctors are expecting kids as young as 12 years old to be getting the Pfizer vaccine locally as soon as Wednesday or Thursday after the Food and Drug Administration made it available through new emergency approval.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the states have to sign off on the approval which is expected to happen very quickly.“Having the vaccine available now for 12 and above is going to really be a big step forward to make our return to normal much quicker,” Dr. Robert Frenck said.Frenck led the Pfizer trials for adults at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and is now working on research on children down to age 5.“I’m really excited about having the vaccine available for 12 and above. I’m going to be more excited when we have it for younger children,” Frenck said.Frenck expects the vaccine for those ages 5 to 11 to be approved by the fall.The biggest impact of the approval is that many parents are now facing the decision to vaccinate their children.Cincinnati Children’s chief of staff Patty Manning said the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.The American Pediatrics Association numbers show 3.8 million kids have had COVID-19, 15,000 have been hospitalized, more than 300 have died.Cincinnati is not immune to the trends.“Every day here at Children’s Hospital, since I can’t remember when, we’ve had at least one, if not many children hospitalized with COVID. That is the reality,” Manning said. “We can’t promise you, neither Dr. Frenck nor myself could ever promise you your child won’t get COVID and that it wouldn’t be serious, But we can promise you with the vaccine the chance of that happening is significantly reduced.”
Doctors are expecting kids as young as 12 years old to be getting the Pfizer vaccine locally as soon as Wednesday or Thursday after the Food and Drug Administration made it available through new emergency approval.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the states have to sign off on the approval which is expected to happen very quickly.
“Having the vaccine available now for 12 and above is going to really be a big step forward to make our return to normal much quicker,” Dr. Robert Frenck said.
Frenck led the Pfizer trials for adults at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and is now working on research on children down to age 5.
“I’m really excited about having the vaccine available for 12 and above. I’m going to be more excited when we have it for younger children,” Frenck said.
Frenck expects the vaccine for those ages 5 to 11 to be approved by the fall.
The biggest impact of the approval is that many parents are now facing the decision to vaccinate their children.
Cincinnati Children’s chief of staff Patty Manning said the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.
The American Pediatrics Association numbers show 3.8 million kids have had COVID-19, 15,000 have been hospitalized, more than 300 have died.
Cincinnati is not immune to the trends.
“Every day here at Children’s Hospital, since I can’t remember when, we’ve had at least one, if not many children hospitalized with COVID. That is the reality,” Manning said. “We can’t promise you, neither Dr. Frenck nor myself could ever promise you your child won’t get COVID and that it wouldn’t be serious, But we can promise you with the vaccine the chance of that happening is significantly reduced.”
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