The White House on Wednesday quietly rolled out its plan to vaccinate children between the ages of 5 and 11 in advance of an FDA advisory committee meeting next week to discuss authorizing the COVID-19 vaccine for children in that age range.

NBC News reports:

The White House told governors this month to expect to begin vaccinations for the 5-to-11 age group early next month. The administration bought 65 million pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, enough to give shots to the estimated 28 million children in that age range who would be eligible if the Food and Drug Administration authorizes its use.

In September, Pfizer said that its two-dose Covid vaccine was shown to be safe in the trial for the 5-to-11 age group and that it provided a “well tolerated” and “robust” antibody response.

Elementary school-age children have been at risk of contracting Covid because many students have returned to in-person learning at school this year. The Pfizer vaccine has been available for people ages 12 and older since May.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy appeared on “The Today Show” and, when pressed about vaccine mandates for children, said mandates were “reasonable to consider.”

The risk/reward ratio at this age really makes it an entirely different ballgame.

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