An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment. |
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 | | The New York Times |
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 | | Vaccines soon for children under 5.Emma H. Tobin/Associated Press |
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Today, C.D.C. advisers reviewed data from Pfizer's three-shot vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years old, and Moderna's two-shot vaccine for children 6 months through 5 years old. After hours of discussion, the advisers voted 21 to 0 to authorize both shots. The F.D.A. has said that clinical trial data from the companies shows that each vaccine meets the criteria for safety and effectiveness in the age group. |
"There are so many parents who are absolutely desperate to get this vaccine," said Dr. Jay Portnoy, a professor of pediatrics at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. "And I think we owe it to them to give them the choice." |
- The F.D.A. will now consider the advisory panel's recommendation. The agency usually follows the advisory panel's advice, but it is free to make changes or reject the recommendation outright. The agency is poised to clear the recommendation as early as the end of the week.
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- If the F.D.A. authorizes the vaccines, a C.D.C. advisory panel will review that decision and vote on whether to recommend the pediatric vaccines. The C.D.C. panel is scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday.
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- Already, the Biden administration has taken advance orders from states around the country for 10 million pediatric doses, and it has set a goal for the first shots to be given to children next week.
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While the U.S. may soon have near-universal eligibility, some difficult questions remain. |
Both pediatric vaccines appear significantly less effective against symptomatic infection than the adult vaccines did when they were first introduced in December 2020. The F.D.A. attributes that to the fact that the Omicron variant is far more adept at evading the vaccines' defenses than the original version was. (Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will most likely require a booster dose.) |
After two doses, Pfizer's vaccine was only about 28 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infection in children ages 6 months through 4 years. Pfizer suggested the vaccine was 80 percent effective after a third dose, but that finding was based on incomplete data. |
Moderna found its vaccine to be 51 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infection in children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37 percent effective in children ages 2 to 5. However, immunization continues to offer strong protection against severe disease that can lead to hospitalization and death. |
"The biggest impact is you take away the rare chance of something bad happening," said Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. |
Vaccine uptake among children overall has also been low. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey published last month, just 18 percent of parents with children under the age of 5 said they were eager to vaccinate their children right away. |
"It's not like this is finally going to end the pandemic," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology and the inaugural director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. But the vaccines could offer more flexibility for families, day cares and preschools. "I do think what will be really great is to help these kids go back to having normal lives," she said. |
The end of the spring wave? |
After a surge this spring, new coronavirus cases in the U.S. have leveled off in recent weeks. The country is recording just over 105,000 new cases a day on average, a rate that has more or less held steady over the past month, according to a New York Times database. |
That figure is sure to be an undercount, but other indicators are also showing signs of steadying: The number of patients hospitalized with the virus is still growing, but slowly, with the average hovering around 29,000 for most of this week. Deaths have stayed below 400 a day for several weeks. |
 | | The New York Times |
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But the current outlook varies from place to place. In Alameda County, Calif., which includes Oakland, officials reinstated a mask order this month, citing growing hospitalizations locally. But in New York City, where cases slowed recently, Mayor Eric Adams, who had previously lifted a mask requirement in schools, announced last week that masks were now optional for toddlers in day care and preschool. |
While we seem to be leveling off, experts said it was still unclear whether the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 would lead to another bump. "My best guess is we are not going to see another giant peak until possibly later in the summer for the Southern states, and the fall and winter," Dr. Nuzzo said. |
What else we're following |
This week I contracted Covid for the second time in less than three months. I am one of the several million people in the United States who are immuno-compromised. You know us. Those people who get the obligatory exception note in every article about how you all can now resume a normal post-pandemic life. I am pretty sure how I acquired Covid. I traveled by plane to Texas for just one day for work. As I traveled, I would guess nearly half of the people I saw had their mask pulled down with their nose hanging out. Once in Texas, almost nobody wore a mask. At my business meeting, no one wore a mask, even though the attendees came the day before from four countries and five states, some of which have rising cases. The urgency is gone. The pandemic-focused infrastructure, if it ever existed, has eroded. To my fellow immuno-compromised Americans, if you don't already know, I guess I should warn you — you're on your own now. — Jennifer Haldeman, San Diego |
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