CDC says children and young teens could get a Covid-19 vaccine in the second half of next year

MILWAUKEE (CBS58)- There might be a delay for children to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says children and young teens could get a COVID-19 vaccine in the second half of the year. 

“That delay is probably a good thing because they are taking the right steps to ensure they have a safe and effective vaccine for our kids," Jeff Pothof said, chief quality officer & emergency medicine physician at UW Health.

Dr.  Pothof says there is data showing that the vaccines are safe and effective in adults, so now they are waiting to get an approval to do clinical trials in children.

“They won’t have to be as robust as these adult studies, you’re not going to see 30,000 children enrolled, they will be able to approve safety and efficacy with a smaller number than that."

Once it’s approved for children, they’ll take a look at infants.

“That could be middle to end of 2021 before they’re saying you know a sub one-year -old or a one to two-year-old okay to vaccinate.”

Pothof says parents shouldn't be worried. 

“There is this rigorous process and there is this check and balance and when a vaccine does become available for children sometime in the future, I wouldn’t have any problem with my children getting it.”

Pothof says children could get the vaccine by the Spring if there's enough child data

He says this could be right on time because that's when they are expecting a large supply of vaccines to be available.