The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunizing Practices (ACIP), met to discuss and vote on whether to include the COVID-19 vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer to the recommended list for childhood vaccines. The ACIP approved the addition in a unanimous vote. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines remain under emergency use authorization (EUA), which makes their inclusion in the Vaccines For Children (VFC), unprecedented.
The FDA approved a EUA on October 12 for the Pfizer omicron vaccine variant for children aged five and over. Children six years and older were granted a EUA for the Moderna version. The CDC followed suit immediately. The data were not evaluated by either agency’s advisory committees. For children aged six months and older, the EUA authorizes the original vaccine series.
The committee stressed that COVID vaccines were added to the VFC to ensure access for families that cannot afford them. It also reiterated that the agency doesn’t issue mandates for vaccinations at schools. These statements are not intended to be performed, since it is known that mandates for school attendance are issued by the VFC.
California was the most aggressive in announcing a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for school attendance, shortly after the FDA approved the jabs. Implementation is currently delayed to at least 2023. New York City also pushed back its mandate. Washington D.C. is likely to delay its requirement at a November 1 meeting. They may all now consider using the ACIP recommendations in order to move forward.
Late September, just before the approval of omicron vaccinations for children was announced, Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel, observed the following information about vaccines and boosters for children:
It’s all about your personal style. Some parents might argue that if there is any benefit, I will accept the risk. Others may say, “If there is any risk, then I don’t want that risk. If the benefit is so small, then it’s okay.” It won’t have much impact on otherwise healthy young people, I think.
According to current CDC guidelines, an individual must receive the initial two-dose series of vaccines before they can be given the dose formulated specifically for omicron. The CDC reports that only 31.6% of children five to eleven years old completed the first series of vaccines and that 60.8% of those 12-17 years old completed it.
Offit also spoke out about data from previous booster campaigns and urged boosters to remain focused on specific populations.
One, older people, i.e. those over 75, were the ones who really benefited from COVID-19 booster vaccinations. People with serious conditions such as chronic lung disease or chronic heart disease or out-of-control type 1 diabetes are two. The third group is those who are immune compromised. It makes sense to concentrate on these three groups when you are looking for a bivalent booster dose.
CDC tracking data was used to track COVID-19 hospitalizations in vaccine-eligible children during the hearing. These data do not distinguish between COVID-19 hospitalizations and COVID-19 hospitalizations. Dr. Fauci acknowledged that COVID-19 hospitalizations in children are often accidental. A mandatory test is required to detect the virus. However, a child could be admitted for another reason.
These data were used by the presenters to prove that omicron is significantly more dangerous for children than other variants. Parents would line up to get their children vaccinated if this was the case. This has not been the case.
Presentations also minimized the possibility of developing cardiac complications in young men after vaccination. The vaccine was less risky than myocarditis caused by COVID-19 infections, according to the presentation. This assertion is refuted by other monitoring of medical claims data. The relative risk of myocarditis caused by an infection with the Omicron variant was not provided in the data.
Data from seroprevalence shows that many children had been exposed to COVID, and some of them have innate immunity. Seroprevalence data showed that as of February 2022, 60% of Americans had been infected by one of the COVID-19 variants. This included three out of four children. Research has shown that some people are protected from severe illness by memory T-cells, which recognize certain parts of the virus.
Florida, which has recently advised that healthy men aged 40 and over not get the COVID-19 vaccine will not follow the ACIP recommendation not to include the mRNA vaccine in routine childhood vaccinations.
Regardless of what @CDCgov votes tomorrow on whether COVID-19 vax are added to routine child immunizations – nothing changes in FL.
Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis, COVID mandates are NOT allowed in FL, NOT pushed into schools, & I continue to recommend against them for healthy kids.
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) October 18, 2022
Joseph Ladapo, the surgeon general, recommended vaccines for healthy children earlier in the year. He will not reverse that recommendation. Other governors should ensure parental medical freedom and stop schools from mandating experimental vaccines for children.
