Covid vaccines for children are on the horizon, Elizabeth Tracey reports
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Studies conducted over the last several months are bearing fruit as Covid vaccines for children appear close to deployment. Emergency use authorizations are expected from the FDA soon, with many parents anxious to have their children immunized. Jonathan Zenilman, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, describes the process.
Zenilman: There’s two groups of kids. One is five to twelve and the other is six months to under five. The trials to look at kids did not look at efficacy, the FDA allows something called bridging, and what they needed to do was show safety and dose range. The major issue with kids has been fevers, and we’ve seen this with the adolescents too but it’s playing out in kids as well. They have really good immune systems and they react to these things. Fevers in kids occur but they tend to be easily controlled. :31
Zenilman says over the counter medicines can help. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.