Children ages 5-11 can now get vaccinated

By Li Lucy Brandt

The White House plans a quick, and effective vaccine rollout, with the majority of the eligible 28 million kids fully vaccinated before Christmas.

After the emergency authorization for the use of pediatric doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine by the FDA last Friday, the CDC recommended vaccinating children ages 5-11, Tuesday night. Parents had been waiting for their children to get vaccinated for more than 18 months. Even having their children only partially vaccinated before Thanksgiving will change families’ outlooks on the holidays immensely.

Tens of thousands of appointments were made the day after the recommendation became public, and the first shots were given Wednesday morning. Pediatricians, as well as pharmacies, are vaccinating children all over the country. This will raise the total amount of fully vaccinated people in the US by millions. About 28 million children just became eligible for the vaccine.

With months of preparation, the rollout shouldn’t be chaotic this time, but rather smooth, authorities said. The vaccine requires two doses within three to six weeks, and an additional two weeks until full immunity, and the plan is to get most of them vaccinated by the end of the year.

Elementary schools may be able to soon go back to a somewhat normal routine with children coming back vaccinated in 2022. Travel to the grandparents over the holidays, as well as playdates, birthday parties, and sleepovers, might start to happen more often again soon. People are ready to leave the pandemic behind, and finally vaccinating children over the age of five is an important step in that direction.