The FDA recently authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for roughly 28 million 5-11 year-olds — the largest group of people in the US. Scientists are highly encouraged as the prediction models show that vaccinating children against COVID-19 could significantly curtail the spread of any new coronavirus variants of concern, as saving a single child’s life would translate to saving many more adult lives.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of the public health professionals and the ongoing massive vaccination campaign, COVID-19 infections in the US have been gradually dropping since September. Most models, including the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub which has already successfully released nine forecasts of the pandemic’s trajectory, anticipate the drop in COVID-19 cases to continue regardless of vaccine authorization in children, provided no other variants of concern emerge*.
However, in an inadvertent scenario of newer variants emergence, this authorization of vaccine for the largest population group in the country would not only lower overall COVID-19 damage but would also have a multifactorial effect in keeping the overall transmission, infection rate, hospitalization, and death lower. Scientists urge every parent to consider vaccinating their kids to put an end to this pandemic long-term.
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*Research conducted prior to Omicron variant emergence.
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