COVID wave is moving across USA: Health experts warn parents that children must do this

Time of India

3 days ago

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United States of America is witnessing a late-summer COVID wave, even as children are preparing to return to school. Fortunately, hospitalization rates remain low. The risk of severe illness and hospitalization among children younger than 1 who are infected with the coronavirus is comparable to that among adults 65 and older. That's why experts have said that a child's first exposure should be through a vaccine, rather than infection. However, this fall, it may not be possible for many parents to have a healthy child younger than age 5 immunized against COVID, as per a report.Public health experts noted that the coronavirus is still a threat, even for otherwise healthy children younger than 2. Among children ages 6 months to 2 years who were hospitalized with COVID from October 2022 to April 2024, more than half had no underlying medical conditions, according to data from the CDC, NYT News Service reported. Pfizer 's vaccine has long been available to these children under so-called emergency use authorization. But the Food and Drug Administration is considering discontinuing the authorization for that age group, according to an email sent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to state and local health departments.Pfizer confirmed the possibility Monday evening and said that the company was "currently in discussions with the agency on potential paths forward." For children 5 to 11 years old, the Pfizer vaccine is expected to be approved and available, according to the CDC's email, which was reviewed by The New York Times.In July, the FDA granted full approval to Moderna's COVID vaccine for children -- but only for those who have health conditions that may put them at increased risk should they become infected. Novavax's COVID vaccine has never been available for children younger than 12.The upshot is that if the FDA does not renew Pfizer's authorization for children 6 months to 4 years, or fully approve the vaccine, healthy children in that age group will have no officially sanctioned options -- although doctors may still choose to provide the vaccine "off label."In May, Health Security Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID vaccines would no longer be offered to healthy children or pregnant women. Kennedy has called the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines dangerous. In May 2021, in the thick of the pandemic, he filed a petition with the FDA demanding that the agency revoke authorization for the shots.The CDC, which typically makes such recommendations, later walked back the secretary's statement, saying that healthy children could get the shot if a doctor agreed that it was needed.Moderna told the CDC it was ramping up supplies of its vaccine for the fall, according to the agency's email. But it is not approved for healthy children, and if the FDA rescinds authorization for children younger than 5, parents of healthy children will find themselves with no options.Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, declined to comment on potential regulatory changes and said any reports before an official statement should be treated as "speculation."But public health experts noted that the coronavirus is still a threat, even for otherwise healthy children younger than 2. Among children ages 6 months to 2 years who were hospitalized with COVID from October 2022 to April 2024, more than half had no underlying medical conditions, according to data from the CDC.The vaccines have also been shown to offer modest protection against long COVID in some children. The effects are already becoming apparent. Providers have stopped ordering last year's shot, as they often do at this time of the year. Normally by this point, there would be a clear plan for the 2025-26 season.A1. The full form of CDC is Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.A2. Full form of FDA is Food and Drug Administration.