Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
- The American Academy of Pediatrics found 72,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 during the last week of July.
- Results from Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials involving children may be delayed.
- The number of pediatric COVID-19 cases has increased since schools reopened.
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Led by US Reps. Katie Porter and Ro Khanna, a bipartisan coalition sent a letter on August 17 to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inquiring about its plans to authorize COVID-19 vaccinations for children under the age of 12.
"The current situation is alarming for parents, whose children ages 2-11 will be in months of school without vaccinations available. After declining in early summer, pediatric cases have recently increased steadily, with almost 72,000 children testing positive in the last week of July 2021," the letter said, citing data from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
-Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) August 22, 2021
Pfizer and Moderna were asked by the FDA to increase the number of 5- to 11-year-olds participating in their vaccines' clinical trials, which may delay results that were initially expected by September, according to the letter. The cohort of representatives requested that the FDA provide a briefing by August 27 with information on when it will receive data from the clinical trials and how long it will take to study the results.
As of August 12, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that children represented 14.4% of all reported COVID-19 cases, and the number of child COVID-19 cases is gradually increasing as schools reopen for in-person instruction.
During the first two weeks of school in Florida, Hillsborough County Public Schools, the eighth largest school district in the US, had to isolate or quarantine more than 13,485 students and employees, with more than 2,650 testing positive for COVID-19, NBC News reported.