The Biden administration hopes to start administering COVID-19 vaccines to children by late spring or summer, Anthony Fauci, MD, said during a Jan. 29 White House news briefing.
Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and coronavirus adviser to President Joe Biden, said studies are underway in children regarding the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which have received FDA emergency authorization. Researchers have started age de-escalation testing in which phase 1 and 2 trials are conducted first in adults, then in older children, and later in small children.
"Hopefully by the time we get to the late spring and early summer, we will have children being able to be vaccinated according to the FDA's guidance," Dr. Fauci said.
Schools should be "the last settings to close after all other mitigation measures have been employed and the first to reopen when they can do so safely," said Rochelle Walensky, MD, director of the CDC.
Dr. Walensky said data suggest "school settings do not result in rapid spread of COVID-19 when mitigation measures are followed," though she noted that many communities currently lack the resources to implement mitigation measures such as masking, decreasing density and proper ventilation.
President Biden has set a goal for most schools to reopen in the first 100 days of his presidency, or late April.
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