The Biden Administration’s National Strategy For The COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness was released on January 21, 2021. The document states that, ‘The federal government will continue to support research into the use of vaccines for adolescents and children’.
Continue research and development to ensure the availability of safe and effective vaccines. The federal government will continue to support research into the use of vaccines for adolescents and children, and in the development of vaccines, formulations and delivery or administration modalities designed to minimize logistical and ancillary supply challenges. (Page 39).
— Kate Murphy (@KateM_NYC) February 2, 2021
Vaccinating children for COVID could be key to achieving herd immunity
From an article in Yahoo News, ‘the Biden administration continues its push to vaccinate millions of Americans before COVID-19 mutates further, health experts and drug manufacturers have begun focusing their attention on inoculating children in the hopes of surpassing the herd immunity threshold for the virus.
“Hopefully by the time we get to the late spring, early summer we will have children being able to be vaccinated according to the FDA’s guidance,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said last week.
While children are less likely than adults to develop severe illness from COVID-19, they are known to contract and spread the disease asymptomatically. Fauci has estimated that the herd immunity threshold for COVID-19 is between 70 percent and 85 percent of the population, meaning that those vaccinated or exposed to the virus reaches a high enough level to prevent its further spread. Given that almost a quarter of the U.S. population is under the age of 18, achieving herd immunity will require that at least some children be vaccinated.’
