This story appeared in the Indy Star. Read the full story here.
This week provided something exceedingly rare: good news.
Indiana lowered the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility age twice in less than 48 hours. Anyone 50 and older can now make an appointment through the state, and an order from President Joe Biden allowed Indiana’s K-12 teachers to sign up for vaccinations via the federal pharmacy program.
But amid all the progress — including the arrival of a one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine — one question still looms over the rollout: when will children be eligible to get shots of their own?
Pfizer’s vaccine has been cleared for kids 16 and older, but the Federal Drug Administration hasn’t greenlit inoculations for anyone younger. That could change – and soon.
Payal Patel-Dovlatabadi, an associate professor of public health at the University of Evansville, said there could be a breakthrough as early as this summer.
“The hope is to have the vaccine ready for children and adolescents by August 2021, prior to the beginning of school in fall,” she said Thursday.
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky hinted at a similar timeline during an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday. He said a vaccine for those 18 and younger could arrive by September. The company launched studies for kids between the ages of 12 and 18 last week. If those go well, they’ll branch into younger demographics.
Pfizer and Moderna have initiated trials for kids as well, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci isn’t so optimistic. Although he agreed with the late summer / early fall timeline for high-schoolers, he said elementary-age students will likely have to wait much longer.
“If you project realistically when we will be able to get enough data to be able to say that elementary school children will be able to be vaccinated, I would think that would be, at the earliest, the end of the year — and very likely the first quarter of 2022,” he said during “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
A vaccine could add another layer of security for schools, especially if children who opted for virtual learning this year stream back into the hallways in the fall, increasing in-person enrollment.
As of the latest update to the state database, Indiana has reported more than 43,000 COVID cases in schools since the pandemic began. More than 28,000 of those came from students, with the rest split between teachers and staff.
Indiana has also grappled with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children – a coronavirus-adjacent illness that can lead to organ failure and death. Multiple cases were reported in the Tri-State this winter, and Indiana has seen somewhere between 31 and 50 cases statewide, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database.
But while a lack of a vaccine for kids could lead to “localized outbreaks” of COVID, Patel-Dovlatabadi said classroom transmission has been “relatively low” at schools that require masking and follow social distancing guidelines.
The Indiana State Department of Health eased restrictions on schools last month, announcing it would no longer require contact tracing or quarantines for COVID exposures in classrooms where students and teachers stay at least three feet apart and always wear masks. They also planned to ship rapid COVID tests to schools across the state.
Increased access to vaccinations could reduce transmission even further. But Dr. Sarah Long, a professor of pediatrics at Drexel University, told the Associated Press it will be tough to reach true herd immunity without a vaccine for kids.
“There’s no question: we do want to immunize children,” she said.
But while a lack of a vaccine for kids could lead to “localized outbreaks” of COVID, Patel-Dovlatabadi said classroom transmission has been “relatively low” at schools that require masking and follow social distancing guidelines.
The Indiana State Department of Health eased restrictions on schools last month, announcing it would no longer require contact tracing or quarantines for COVID exposures in classrooms where students and teachers stay at least three feet apart and always wear masks. They also planned to ship rapid COVID tests to schools across the state.
Increased access to vaccinations could reduce transmission even further. But Dr. Sarah Long, a professor of pediatrics at Drexel University, told the Associated Press it will be tough to reach true herd immunity without a vaccine for kids.
“There’s no question: we do want to immunize children,” she said.