The next Covid-19 battle will be to vaccinate children

Monday, the Tennessee Department of Health Fired its top vaccine official, Michelle Fiscus. Her violation: In May, she sent a memo to the state’s pharmacies and doctors conveying a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that allowed teens to seek medical care without parental consent, including vaccination.At that time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had just Authorize Pfizer Vaccine Suitable for children aged 12 to 17, and a vaccine suitable for Moderna vaccine will be available soon.

Fiscus’ memo was approved by the governor’s staff, and there were no policy changes. The legal ruling it discussed was issued in 1987. However, state lawmakers accused her of “stimulating” children to seek vaccines. She was summoned to attend two hearings; once, a lawmaker proposed to dissolve the entire state health department in retaliation.

in A statement She gives Tennessee On Monday night, Fiscus said that in order to protect itself, the department had closed all vaccination campaigns. She wrote: “It is not only the Covid-19 vaccine outreach for young people, but also all communications about any type of vaccine.” “We did not report to more than 30,000 who did not vaccinate their children for measles due to the pandemic last year. Parents send back to school messages. This state has one of the highest incidences of HPV cancer in the United States, so no information about human papillomavirus vaccines was sent to residents.” (Tuesday, Tennessee comfirmed Vaccine promotion and vaccination clinics opened in schools have been closed. )

Fiscus’ dismissal was fired two days after the crowd at the Dallas Conservative Political Action Conference cheer Announced that the Biden administration has not achieved its goal of vaccinating 70% of Americans by July 4.It was also three days later at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Easy The institution’s previous Guidelines About wearing a mask in the school building. Add these events together and they are the storm alarms for the next Covid battle, this time vaccinating children-they will come as the Delta variant of the virus progresses and the school year is about to begin.

The ongoing clinical trials are currently testing the safety, effectiveness, dose, and timing of the mRNA vaccine for children between 11 years and 6 months; approximately 4,500 children are in Pfizer’s trial, and approximately 7,000 are in Moderna’s trial.Pfizer officials June said The first emergency authorization request should be sent to the FDA in September or October. (Johnson & Johnson is only now starting to experiment with teenagers, not including young children.)

These trials are scattered across medical centers in the United States and several European countries—according to several key investigators, these trials have more locations than originally planned because these companies believe it is urgent to collect data and obtain approval as soon as possible. That’s because adults can get vaccinated now, and children make up a larger proportion of people who get sick due to Covid.

In July, children accounted for 14.2% of all U.S. cases, compared with 2% in April 2020. according to American Academy of Pediatrics. In the United States alone, more than 4 million children are sickened by Covid. Although most people are only mildly ill, as of July 8, 16,623 people have been hospitalized and 344 people have died.As of the end of June, there were 4,196 children and adolescents MIS-C developed, This Confusing and sometimes fatal inflammation Occurs after Covid infection, which affects the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain.

“Covid is a risk for children,” said Mark Sawyer, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and temporary voting member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologicals Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), which reviewed vaccines that represent Covid. “In terms of pediatric deaths, the reported deaths are at least as severe as during the worst flu season, and may be worse than this. This does not even let us understand the possible long-term consequences, whether it comes from MIS-C or the so-called long-distance Covid. This does not even touch on the public health argument that we need children not to bring Covid to their grandparents and other people at very high risk.”