When could the COVID vaccine be ready for younger kids?
The pandemic isnt over. And many in New Jersey still havent been vaccinated. Children. Clinical trials are ongoing. But right now, younger children  those under 12  are not eligible to receive the vaccine. That likely will not change before schools start reopening next month. Though children are less susceptible to COVID-19, they can still contract it, fall ill and spread it to others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while infection and death rates have plummeted, the now-dominant Delta variant is continuing to spread across the state and nation. Children still have the ability to be a reservoir of infection, said Dr. David Cennimo, an infectious disease expert at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Cennimo said immunizing kids will be another critical step in halting the spread of the disease. Pfizer/BioNTechs vaccine is approved  under emergency use  for kids 12 to 15. It has also begun testing its vaccine on a bigger cohort of kids under 12. The age groups have been divided into blocks: 5 to 11; 2 to under 5; and 6 months to under 2. Last month, Moderna requested emergency use expansion for its vaccine to include kids 12 to 17. And Johnson & Johnson in April announced it was adding adolescents 12 to 17 to its ongoing Phase 2a clinical trial. Some experts are skeptical a vaccine will be ready in time for the first school bell. Some schools go back in the third week of August, and I would think its going to be hard to get the vaccines approved and up and running at that timepoint, said Dr. Reynold Panettieri, vice chancellor for translational medicine and science at Rutgers University. He added, I think even before Thanksgiving well have vaccines approved. That I cant tell you. But certainly to 12.  NJ Advance Media spoke to experts along with a spokeswoman from Pfizer to get a sense of the timeline on the vaccine and to understand the importance of getting children immunized  and as soon as possible. As of Friday, 4,926,115 people have been fully vaccinated and 5,530,026 people have received at least one dose, according to the state dashboard. Only 3% of those 12 to 15 have been immunized and 2% of those 16 to 17. Pfizer does not have a definitive date for when a vaccine for children under 12 will be released. The company said it anticipates data to be available for children ages 5 to 11 in September and could submit for emergency use authorization soon after, Kit Longley, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, said in an email. Cennimo said its smart to prioritize that age group first. Theyll have more social contact in school settings than younger kids, and we would want to get (them) protected as soon as possible, Cennimo said. Again, the fall seems to be the target. Longley said data from its study could come in October or November. The company could seek emergency use authorization after that. Children are a huge block of the population that can still be carriers and spreaders of the virus. Vaccinating kids, experts say, is critical in eventually achieving herd immunity. Children under the age of 15 account for 26% of the global population. We believe successfully vaccinating children will contribute to protection against COVID-19 if the vaccine proves to be effective in that population, Longley said in the email. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has so far proven highly effective in adolescents. The CDC says, Based on evidence from clinical trials in people 16 years and older, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 in people who received two doses and had no evidence of being previously infected.  The younger age group had a similar outcome. There have been some concerns about the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna both use mRNA technology). There have been more than 1,000 reported cases of myocarditis and pericarditis  conditions involving inflammation of the heart, according to the CDC. These reports are rare, given the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses administered, and have been reported after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, particularly in adolescents and young adults, the CDC says on its website. Will there be a boxed warning? Panettieri posed. For Cennimo, the biggest fear is the perception that these cases may cause when it comes to vaccinating young kids. I wouldnt anticipate that younger children should have more myocarditis, Cennimo said. So, of course, thats something that well watch out for. But I do think it may have an impact if it prevents people from wanting to get their child vaccinated.  Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com.