COVID vaccine for kids under 12 may be months away: FDA official

On Friday afternoon, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top health leaders will likely address the spike in COVID-19 cases happening across the U.S. and North Carolina.

The spike is happening just weeks before 40 million unvaccinated children under 12 head back to school. This is the first time we’re hearing from FDA officials about when kids aged 5 to 11 could get vaccinated.

We reported in March that Moderna and Pfizer started their vaccine trials in kids under 12. In the spring, Pfizer officials said data from their trials should be available in the fall.

Similar to the vaccine for adults - Pfizer officials say they would be applying for emergency use authorization once the data on their trials is out in September. Emergency authorization for COVID-19 vaccines for the children could come in early to midwinter, a Food and Drug Administration official said Thursday.

The agency will then seek full approval of the vaccine for children.

With kids weeks away from going back to school, the average number of new cases has more than doubled in the past two weeks in North Carolina, with nearly 1000 new cases in the past 24 hours on Wednesday.

As an aside, twins who live in the Triangle were the first to get vaccinated in Pfizer's trial. In Durham, Pfizer launched Phase 1 of its study into how its COVID vaccine will affect children under the age of 12.