Biden outlines timeline for COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 12

President Joe Biden offered a timeline for when children under 12 may begin to get the COVID-19 vaccination.

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Biden, speaking Wednesday at a town hall sponsored by CNN, said he expected the vaccine to be available in the early fall for children under age 12.

“My expectation talking to the group of scientists we put together, over 20 of them plus others in the field, is that some time, maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning September, October, you’ll get a final approval saying the FDA said ‘No, this is it. It’s good.’”

In the United States, those over the age of 12 are eligible to get a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination. Moderna is conducting clinical trials to determine the dosage of its vaccination for children over 12. Currently, you must be older than 18 to get the Moderna vaccine.

“When they are ready, when they’ve done all the scientific (work) that needs to be done to determine—children at ages three, four, five, six, seven, and eight, they, in fact, are—all have different makeups,” Biden said of a timeframe for when the vaccines will be approved for younger children.

“They’re developing. They’re trying to figure out whether or not there’s a vaccination that would affect one child at such and such an age and not another child. That’s underway.”

Biden said that before school starts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are likely to advise that those under 12 “should probably be wearing a mask in school.”

Biden also said he expected the Food and Drug Administration to give final approval “quickly” for COVID-19 vaccines. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were given emergency use authorization in December. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was granted emergency use authorization in February.

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