NJ Should Prep Kids' COVID Vaccine Distribution: White House

NEW JERSEY — The Garden State is preparing for a massive influx of demand for children ages 5 to 11 to get the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which the Food & Drug Administration is scheduled to discuss on Oct. 26. After that meeting, the FDA is expected to approve the shot for kids as early as Halloween or by early November.

In anticipation of the decision, the White House is telling governors across the U.S. to preparing now to start vaccinating kids come early November, according to NBC and other media outlets.

Once the FDA gives its expected approval, there are 28 million American children in the 5-11 age group that will be qualified to get the vaccine.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolfe is setting up vaccination clinics in schools. It remains unknown if New Jersey will do that.

"We'll be prepared to meet the demand," said New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli at the governor's press conference Wednesday.

Among 16- and 17-year-olds in New Jersey, 70 percent have received at least one dose, she said.

"We hope to get that up to 80, 85 percent," she said. However, among 12-15-year-olds:

"They are 57 percent vaccinated," said Persichilli, who seemed disappointed by the number. "We're working with schools and local officials in every municipality to identify those individuals and try to encourage them and their parents to line up and get a shot in the arm. I'm pleased where we're going with kids, but ... I wish the younger kids had higher levels of vaccination."

Gov. Murphy previously said the state plans to reopen three vaccine mega-sites across the state: One in North Jersey, one in Central Jersey and the state already reopened the vaccine megasite in Gloucester County in South Jersey. However, that vaccine mega site is no longer held at Rowan University as it was last spring; it is now at the county public works complex.

It remains unknown when those other two megasites will reopen.

Thousands of children have been hospitalized with COVID-related complications since 2020. Of the 73 million children in the U.S., over 5 million have tested positive for COVID and around 650 have died of COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The good news continues to be that this is not a common problem for kids,” said Dr. Daniel Rauch, chief of pediatric hospital medicine at Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston, told USA Today. “The bad news is kids are not immune to this.”

In total, Pfizer tested its COVID vaccine on 2,268 children in the 5-11 age group. They announced Sept. 20 that the vaccine showed positive results when children were given a third of the dose that was given to adults. Read more: Pfizer Says Low COVID Vaccine Dose Is Good For Kids 5 To 11

The plan is to give children 5-11 will be given two doses of 10 micrograms of the vaccine, in two shots given 21 days apart. Anyone 12 and older is given 30-microgram doses of the vaccine.

The children demonstrated a strong immune response one month after the second dose, said Pfizer.

In total, Pfizer tested 4,500 children ages 6 months to 11 years of age in the United States, Finland, Poland and Spain for their COVID vaccine, with 2,268 kids in the 5-11 age group. They broke their trial up into three parts: Ages 5 to 11 years; ages 2 to 5 years; and ages 6 months to 2 years.

Study results from the infant and toddler trial are expected to come sometime in November or December.

More than 75 percent of New Jersey residents who currently can get the vaccine are fully vaccinated, and 84 percent have received at least one dose. New Jersey continues to lead the nation in terms of vaccine rates. To date, more than 5.9 million New Jersey residents have been vaccinated.

Since the pandemic first began, there have been 444 student outbreaks in New Jersey schools, and 77 cases of teachers getting the coronavirus in school, said Gov. Murphy Wednesday.

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