White House Official: COVID-19 Vaccine May be Available to Youngest Children Later This Month

In a White House press briefing this afternoon, President Joe Biden’s Coronavirus Response Coordinator, Ashish Jha, MD, said COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 years of age might be available as early as June 21.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will be meeting on June 14-15 to discuss the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for these pediatric populations.

“On June 15, 2022, under Topic II, the committee will meet in open session to discuss amending the EUA of the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to include the administration of the primary series to infants and children 6 months through 5 years of age, and also to discuss amending the EUA of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to include the administration of the primary series to infants and children 6 months through 4 years of age,” The FDA stated on its website.

Jha believes post-meeting, a decision will be made quickly on the recommendation to authorize the vaccines.

"We expect an FDA decision shortly after the advisory committee meeting, and we look forward to this process playing out," Jha said during the briefing.

He said the United States has enough supplies of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and ready to ship if the federal regulatory agencies authorize the mRNA vaccines.