Story at a glance
- President Biden said he expects younger children will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines by August or the fall.
- Biden made the announcement during a CNN town hall in Cincinnati on Wednesday.
- Biden also encouraged unvaccinated Americans to get the immunization amid rising case rates.
President Biden said he expects younger children will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccinations soon.
Appearing on a CNN town hall in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Biden said children under the age of 12, who are not currently eligible for the three coronavirus vaccinations available in the United States, could get vaccinated by August or the fall.
“They’re not promising me any specific date,” Biden said, “but my expectation, talking to the scientists is that sometimes, maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning of September, October, you’ll get a final approval.”
Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech both began clinical trials of their coronavirus vaccines for children under the age of 12 in March and expect to have the results by fall.
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Biden also spent part of the town hall urging unvaccinated Americans to get immunized amid rising cases.
Over the past two weeks, coronavirus cases have nearly tripled in the U.S., and only 48.8 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We have a pandemic for those who haven’t gotten the vaccination – it’s that basic, that simple,” Biden said. “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in the IC unit, and you’re not going to die.”
Though there have been noted breakthrough cases of vaccinated people getting infected, with those who are immunocompromised at a higher risk. According to a recent report in The Washington Post, both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are about 96 percent effective against the delta variant leading to hospitalization.
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NEW JOHNS HOPKINS MAP SHOWS COVID-19 CASES RISING ACROSS AMERICA
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FAUCI SAYS VACCINES SHOULD BE MANDATED LOCALLY ACROSS THE COUNTRY
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