What Actually Changed for Little Kids’ Vaccines?
After months and months of being told to wait, then wait, then wait some more, parents eager to vaccinate their littlest kids against COVID-19 have been gifted some good and very confusing news. Yesterday, after weeks of weird and cryptic waffling, Pfizer kick-started the process of requesting an emergency use authorization from the FDA for their infant-and-toddler COVID-19 vaccine; if the agency’s advisory-panel meeting, scheduled for the 15th, goes smoothly, the under-5 shots could be available as a two-dose series shortly thereafter, pending a CDC recommendation. The most optimistic timeline for the arrival of an under-5 vaccine has suddenly shrunk to just a few more weeks.
This pivot is, at first glance, bizarre. Six weeks ago, right before Christmas, Pfizer that late-stage trials of two mini shots had produced somewhat lackluster antibody results in 2-to-4-year-olds, and a third dose could be necessary to clinch protection. Nothing about the vaccine itself has changed since then; no new data (actually, ) have been publicized. Pfizer that a third dose will probably be necessary, and may around early spring. And yet, the stance on the shots for this group of kids has shifted substantially. Somehow, we’ve gone in an instant from to And both statements, somehow, are meant to be true
