Protect Their Future Calls for Equal Access to Bivalent Vaccines for Young Children
Denying children under 5 access to bivalents further hurts families
October 12, 2022 – Today the FDA authorized bivalent Covid vaccines for children 5 and over, allowing them critical protection against the current circulating variants. As bivalents roll out for almost the entire population in the country, children under 5 are once again left behind, with a projected roll out expected next year–after the holiday season, likely winter surge and even potentially when a new variant altogether is circulating.
The delays for the under 5 group lies in an arbitrary barrier placed on requiring human trial data before approvals. This methodology defies the protocol for flu vaccines, which does not require human trial data for children under 5 (or older age groups). While Protect their Future recognizes the additional scientific value of human trial data on the bivalents, Omicron continues to ravage our communities NOW, and just as adults and children over 5 are deemed worthy of receiving access to a safe vaccine that could help them through another winter surge, our youngest childrens’ health should be treated with the same care and value.
Children under 5 do not live in a vacuum. They go to daycares or have older siblings that attend school. Many are unable to mask at all, and those who can, often can't mask as effectively as an older child. They deserve to be part of society and given the same opportunities and protections the rest of the population has. Adding arbitrary barriers and criteria that do not apply to anyone else is reckless and harming our families. At a time when Covid is among the top 10 leading causes of death for children and we head into the holiday season and winter surge, our health leaders must act with urgency and allow families to protect their youngest with a bivalent vaccine.
After needlessly delaying original Covid vaccine access to children under 5, our health leaders cannot fail families of young children again. The FDA and CDC must do the right thing and allow our youngest access to a vaccine that has a proven record for safety and can only benefit our children from immediate and long term damage.
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Protect Their Future is a grassroots group of physicians, parents, and activists advocating on behalf of young children and patients to ensure health leaders put kids first in public health policies. Follow us on Twitter at @PTF_org