Experimental Coronavirus Vaccines Not Yet Being Tested In Children; Childhood Vaccinations Drop From 84% Coverage To 70%, Study Shows
New York Times: A Covid-19 Vaccine for Children May Not Arrive Before Fall 2021
“The pandemic has many parents asking two burning questions. First, when can I get a vaccine? And second, when can my kids get it? It may come as a surprise that the answers are not the same. Adults may be able to get a vaccine by next summer. But their kids will have to wait longer. Perhaps a lot longer. Thanks to the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed and other programs, a number of Covid-19 vaccines for adults are already in advanced clinical trials. But no trials have yet begun in the United States to determine whether these vaccines are safe and effective for children…” (Zimmer, 9/21).
NPR: How Bad Has The Pandemic Been For Childhood Vaccinations?
“…Back in the 1970s, fewer than 5% of those children [in poor countries] were getting basic vaccinations. Last year their coverage was above 80%. Then the pandemic hit — grounding planes that transport vaccines, sidelining health workers who administer them, prompting parents to stop taking their children for checkups out of fear they’d get infected with the coronavirus at the doctor’s office. So [Stephen Lim and his colleagues at the University of Washington] wanted to figure it out — just how big of an impact on vaccinations has all this been having? … The results are alarming: Compared to last year, the percentage of kids worldwide who got their basic vaccines has dropped from 84% to 70%…” (Aizenman/Silver, 9/21).
The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.