It’s official: 12- to 15-year-olds can now get the Covid-19 vaccine

It’s official: 12- to 15-year-olds can now get the Covid-19 vaccine

 

CDC's Walensky said last week the agency now recommends the use of Pfizer/BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine in 12-15-year-olds.   This came after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously to recommend giving the Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to kids as young as 12.   Dr. Sara Oliver, of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, emphasized the benefits of the vaccine for this age group during that meeting.   "Overall the hospitalization rate for Covid in this population is higher than the influenza-associated hospitalization rate for the same age group during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic," Oliver said. Plus, it's become clear that teens and children are a source of spread of the virus, she added.   "This is one more step to gaining immunity and bringing the pandemic closer to an end," said Dr. José Romero, who chairs ACIP and who is also the Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Health.   "We still need to vaccinate the rest of the world, but we have made significant steps and are on the road," Romero said.