Should Kids Under 12 Get The Coronavirus Vaccine? Take Our Survey

MASSACHUSETTS —Federal regulators could approve coronavirus vaccines for kids between the ages of 5 and 11 as early as this month.

That approval will set off another rush by parents to get their kids vaccinated, as they did in May when COVID-19 vaccines were approved for use in children between the ages of 12 and 15 in May. But it will also set off another round of debates over whether parents should get their kids vaccinated.

As we did in May, when vaccines were approved for older kids, Patch is asking readers where they stand on children being vaccinated against the coronavirus. We'll close the survey below at noon on Thursday and report the results this weekend.

When Will Vaccines Be Approved For Kids Under 12?

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna began clinical trials of their coronavirus for kids under 12 in August. Those trials, which came at the urging of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, were aimed at detecting some rare side effects that had shown up in a small percentage of patients under the 30.

The trials, which involved more than 2,000 children for each vaccine, are similar to earlier trials before the medications were approved for older patients. In each of the previous trials, an advisory committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ruled the benefits of getting vaccinated outweighed the minimal risks.

Pfizer submitted results of the trials to the FDA last week. If the FDA grants emergency use authorization, kids in the 5-to-11 age group could start getting the Pfizer vaccine by Halloween.

Some parents have already started asking pediatricians to administer the shot "off label" to their younger children. Those reports prompted FDA to reiterate warnings that parents should not get their kids under 12 vaccinated until the agency completes its review.

"The FDA takes very seriously the importance of getting vaccines, shown to be safe and effective in children," Dr. Anthony Fauci told MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' show last week. "I would imagine in the next few weeks they will examine that data and hopefully give the O.K. so we can start vaccinating children hopefully by the end of October."

Take The Patch Survey

The survey below is not meant to be a scientific poll, with random sampling and margins of error, but is meant only to gauge the sentiments of our readers in an informal way.