Parents hoping to get their young children vaccinated for COVID-19 will have to wait at least another two months. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently postponed a decision on an emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for kids 6 months to 4 years old. The FDA is waiting on additional data, which are expected in early April.
In October 2021, the FDA approved COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5 to 11, but Mayo Clinic experts say the number of those children getting vaccinated is still low.
"We still have low uptake among the children ages 5 to 11 who are school-age children and around lots of other people who may not be vaccinated. The uptake nationally in them is like low 20% for that age group," says Dr. Melanie Swift, a Mayo Clinic internist and preventive medicine specialist.
