FDA OKs Covid-19 Vaccine for Ages 12 to 15 courthousenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from courthousenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vaccinating younger ages is considered an important step for getting children back into schools safely
Reuters May 11, 2021
Marisol Gerardo, 9, is held by her mother as she gets the second dose of the Pfizer coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine during a clinical trial for children at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina, US. PHOTO: REUTERS
US regulators authorized Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12 and said they could begin receiving shots as soon as Thursday, widening the country’s inoculation program as vaccination rates have slowed significantly.
This is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized in the United States for ages 12 to 15. Vaccinating younger ages is considered an important step for getting children back into schools safely. US President Joe Biden has asked states to make the vaccine available to younger adolescents immediately.
But while herd immunity may be elusive, stopping transmission with vaccines can restore a similar semblance of normalcy, she said.
Catherine Hankins, the co-chair of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, says factors like the coronavirus variants-of-concerns may mean Canada doesn t achieve herd immunity any time soon or at all. (Submitted by Catherine Hankins )
Herd immunity occurs when enough of a population is immune to a virus either naturally from infection or through vaccination so the virus can t find hosts and eventually dies off.
The threshold for herd immunity is different depending on the virus. For COVID-19, people initially thought we d need about 60-70 per cent of the population to be immune in order to achieve it, said Hankins
Vaccinating kids may be key to quashing COVID-19, but there are still many unknowns If you have a large number of adults who are immune . will the virus find other pathways? – Manish Sadarangani, infectious disease specialist at B.C. Children s Hospital
Author of the article: Glenda Luymes
Publishing date: Apr 22, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 3 minute read • Marisol Gerardo, 9, is held by her mother as she gets the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine during a clinical trial for children at Duke Health in Durham, N.C., on April 12. It s unclear what role the vaccination of kids will play in achieving herd immunity in B.C. Photo by SHAWN ROCCO/DUKE HEALTH /via REUTERS
Vaccinating kids may be key to quashing COVID, but still many unknowns canada.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from canada.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.