The White House reported this Thursday that it has ordered millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years of age in anticipation that health authorities will approve its use in just a few days, according to federal officials.
The Government allowed states and pharmacies to place orders since last week;
There are five million doses initially available, half of them from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the other half from Moderna, according to government officials.
As of this week, some 1.45 million of the 2.5 million doses have been ordered from Pfizer, and about 850,000 from Moderna, officials added, with more orders expected in the coming days.
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Young children are the last population group not recommended to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
As many as 20 million children under the age of 5 could be immunized
if the government authorizes one or both injections.
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The degree of popularity of vaccines is not clear.
A recent survey suggests that
only one in five parents of young children would vaccinate their children
right away.
And public health officials have been disappointed by the number of older children who, despite being able to get vaccinated for months, have not;
less than a third of children 5 to 11 years of age have received the two recommended doses
.
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“As we go down the age groups, we see less and less acceptance” of vaccines, said Dr. Lucía Abascal, of the California Department of Public Health.
Pfizer has asked health authorities to authorize three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years.
Each dose is one tenth of the amount adults receive.
Moderna has asked that two doses of the vaccine be authorized for children 6 months to 5 years of age, each containing a quarter of the dose given to adults.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses the use of vaccines, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues recommendations to doctors and the public about their use.
An FDA advisory committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday to review the data from the two companies.
A CDC advisory committee is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with a CDC decision expected shortly thereafter.
Vaccination should begin June 21, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator.
