A U.S. Centers for Disease Control panel endorsed the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children as young as age12 on Wednesday, setting the stage for expanded access to the Pfizer shot to adolescents ahead of summer camps and next school year.
The vote, which has been highly anticipated by California’s public health officials, marks another milestone in the nation’s effort to combat the pandemic. On Wednesday evening, the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup is expected to sign off on its use, triggering state distribution.
The state is poised to begin offering vaccine reservations on Thursday morning for 12- to 15-year-olds through the My Turn appointment system. Within the next several days and weeks, youth vaccines also will be available through many pediatric and family practice offices, as well as county clinics, healthcare networks such as Kaiser and pharmacies that offer vaccines, such as CVS, Walgreens, Costco, Ralphs, Rite Aid and Albertsons/Safeway.
The committee voted unanimously in support of the vaccine expansion after hearing evidence of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, as well as increasing cases of COVID-19 illness and hospitalization of children. The illness now ranks among the top 10 causes of death in children.
“Sometimes we lose the importance of children and adolescents in the midst of a pandemic,” said Dr. Grace Lee of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. “There’s been such a focus on older adults.”
“The childhood experience,” she said, “will have long lasting consequences that may extend across generations.”
In a change of policy, the panel’s experts updated recommendations about the timing of vaccines.
Until Wednesday, authorities cautioned against the simultaneous administration of COVID-19 with other childhood vaccines, saying that studies had not yet been conducted to assure safety. COVID-19 vaccines required a 14-day interval before or after administration of any other vaccines.
This could have posed a challenge for parents and pediatricians, because children have fallen behind on their recommended immunizations during the pandemic – so there’s a lot of catching up to do, without much time. As the school year approaches, they faced repeated visits for multiple vaccinations over the course of the next several weeks.
In a shift, the CDC committee, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, now supports the “co-administration” of childhood vaccines. Vaccine science does not suggest a danger, they said.
“Given the importance of routine vaccinations and the need for rapid uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, the American Academy of Pediatrics supports ‘co-administration’ of routine childhood and adolescent immunizations with COVID-19 vaccines… for children and adolescents who are behind on, or are due for, immunizations,” said AAP representative Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine.
The two-shot regimen is safe and effective for younger adolescents, according to clinical trial data provided by Pfizer’s Dr. John Perez.
To ease access by youth, the state is enrolling an estimated 1,000 health care providers – including many specialists in adolescent care — into a network of vaccine distributors.
With 2.1 million Californians in this age group, “it’s a tremendous opportunity for that group to experience that sense of normalcy that they have been missing,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, at a Tuesday afternoon press briefing.
Vaccinating young teens will move us closer to the 80% threshold needed to obtain “herd immunity” and slow viral spread, a wide-range of public health experts say. And it offers peace of mind to families as teens return to typical activities.
To register online at My Turn, go to: https://myturn.ca.gov/. As an alternative to registering online, people can schedule an appointment by calling 833-422-4255, with support for many languages.
