White House to Start Shipping Kids’ Vaccines as Clearance Nears

(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration will begin shipping vaccines for kids age 5 to 11 as soon as next week, and shots could start going into arms the week after.

President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response team held a news briefing Wednesday to detail their plan for vaccinating younger children, a long-awaited but logistically complex milestone, the success of which could hinge on efforts to combat parental hesitancy. Kids’ shots are smaller doses and will be largely administered by doctors’ offices, requiring a tailored distribution plan.

Shipments of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccines will begin after authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, which could come next week. That would allow vaccines to arrive at doctors’ offices so that they could be administered once cleared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC clearance could swiftly follow a panel hearing scheduled for Nov. 2-3. 

“We will ensure that vaccinations for kids ages 5 to 11 are easy, convenient and accessible to every family,” Jeff Zients, who serves as Biden’s Covid-19 response coordinator, said Wednesday. “We have more than enough vaccine for every child aged 5 to 11.”

There are about 28 million kids in that age category, and their vaccination effort will be different from those age 12 and up, who all receive the same dose. The younger kids’ dose is 10 micrograms, or one-third the regular Pfizer-BioNTech dose, and will be given with smaller needles. 

The doses will be administered at 25,000 pediatricians’ offices and primary care sites, along with pharmacies and -- to a lesser extent -- schools and clinics, the White House said. The doses will be shipped in smaller configurations more easily stored at a typical pediatrician’s office, the White House said. It will be possible to store them for up to 10 weeks at standard refrigeration temperatures and 6 months at ultra-cold temperatures.

The FDA’s advisory committee meets Oct. 26 to review whether to clear kids’ shots, and FDA authorization could come shortly after. The administration could immediately ship 15 million doses then, to prepare for potential authorization by the CDC. The CDC’s advisory committee will meet Nov. 2 and 3, with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky likely issuing a final decision shortly after.

Walensky warned that the process of getting shots in kids’ arms could take time -- the authorization of adolescents age 12 to 15, by contrast, simply made them eligible to get shots already being given to adults and spread across the distribution system. This stage requires the creation of a different system altogether. 

“After we have authorization from FDA and recommendations from CDC, we’ll be working to scale up pediatric vaccination. That said, it will take some time,” Walensky said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, with the onset of colder weather, “we know we cannot be complacent,” she said. Previous data indicated that schools that have had masks requirements in place were 3.5 times less likely to have outbreaks requiring closure. 

“Right now, we are going to continue to recommend masks in all schools for all people in those schools, and we will look forward to scaling up pediatric vaccination during this period of time,” Walensky said. 

The Biden administration officials also acknowledged a looming potential obstacle -- it’s not clear how many parents will get their kids inoculated. Generally, polls have shown that parents are more hesitant to vaccinate kids than teens, and more hesitant about either than vaccinating themselves. 

The White House said it will launch public education campaigns to answer parents’ questions, and called on unvaccinated adults to get the shot as a way to protect kids now. “We will be ready to ensure that everyone has both the information and the access they need to protect their families,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said.

The White House was criticized for publicly signaling the need for booster shots before they were cleared for use, and the officials were asked Wednesday whether they were advocating for clearance of kids’ shots. 

Zients underscored that the White House wasn’t moving ahead of the FDA or CDC’s clearances, but that administration officials wanted to start planning now so shots can go into kids’ arms days after anticipated clearance, instead of weeks or months.

Vaccinating kids could provide a boost both to Biden’s political fortunes and and to his public-health goals. Reaching children younger than age 12 would be a crucial step toward ending the pandemic and insulating them from the worst risks of Covid. 

Public approval of Biden’s handling of the pandemic, and other issues including Afghanistan and his economic agenda, has been falling. Many parents, including the suburban voters Democrats need to keep control of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections, are eagerly anticipating a vaccine for children. It could also help working parents return to their offices and boost the travel sector by making parents more comfortable with taking kids on trips.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.