COVID-19 Vaccine For Illinois Kids: New Timeline, Rollout Plan

ILLINOIS — On Wednesday, federal officials announced a plan to get children as young as 5 — about 28 million of them — vaccinated within weeks.

The drug company Pfizer earlier this month asked regulators to approve its COVID-19 vaccine for use in children 5 to 11 years old. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to discuss Pfizer's data at a meeting on Oct. 26, and an independent CDC advisory committee will meet on November 2 and 3 to issue their recommendation.

The rollout will look a little different than that of the adult vaccines earlier this year.

As soon as the vaccine is approved for the younger age group, vaccination clinics will be set up at doctors officers, hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers and schools, officials said.

Supply isn't expected to be a problem. Up to 65 million doses have already been procured by the federal government and will start shipping within a week of the vaccine's FDA approval, according to the White House.

The dose of the vaccine for children in the 5-11 age group is smaller than an adult dose — 10 micrograms rather than 30. So are the needles. But, like adults, children will require two shots about 21 days apart to be fully vaccinated.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said their data shows the vaccine was "well tolerated and showed [a] robust neutralizing antibody response" in the younger age group.

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Children do not usually get as sick, as often, as adults who catch the coronavirus, but hundreds of children have died from COVID-19, and thousands have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Across Illinois, pediatric emergency rooms have seen a "serious increase" of children with COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. Officials warned of overcrowded emergency departments ill-equipped for a surge of infections, even cautioning parents to "seek care at an emergency department [only] if their child is seriously ill."

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Illinois' top public health official, urged parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as they are eligible.

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Pfizer said the safety profile of the vaccine for children was comparable to the adult version. Potential side effects include soreness at the injection site, fatigue, fever, chills and headache.

Allergic reactions are very rare, and easily treatable if they do occur.

Like its adult data, the full data from Pfizer's clinical trial for children will be available for peer review, the company said.

The company expects to release data and seek emergency use authorization for children as young as 6 months old later this year, according to a news release.

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Teachers in Illinois must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly testing, but as yet, K-12 students have not been required to add the vaccine to the list of shots they must get to attend school. College students, for whom the vaccine is fully approved, do face such requirements.