Surgeon General: We have the supplies to vaccinate 'all 28 million children between the ages of 5 to 11'
In a new interview with Yahoo Finance senior reporter Anjalee Khemlani, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy discussed the timeline for when we might begin to see children as young as 5 being vaccinated.
Video transcript
VIVEK H. MURTHY: I think it's just going to be a few weeks, most likely, until we see some sort of decision from the FDA and the CDC. And in anticipation of what may come, a potential authorization for a vaccine for kids under 12, we have been planning to get ready for that.
And there are a couple of things that we want parents to know. One is that there's going to be enough vaccine. We've actually procured the supply needed for all 28 million children between the ages of 5 to 11. The second is to know that this will continue to be free, like vaccines for adults and for adolescents.
The third thing to know is there will be tens of thousands of access points for people to get vaccinated. We've been working with doctors to make sure we can get vaccine into offices, with pharmacies, with existing network or pharmacies that we've already gotten vaccine into. We're also working with children's hospitals with local schools as well to set up vaccination centers. We want there to be short lines and many options in terms of where people can get vaccinated.
But finally, essentially, you know, we know that throughout this campaign, to get our country protected against COVID, one of our biggest obstacles has been misinformation. And we've seen it proliferate, particularly around the vaccine. We are anticipating there may be misinformation that circulates around a vaccine for children as well.
And to me, personally, as a parent, that is absolutely something we have to push back against because I think every parent and every individual has the right to accurate, factual information so they can make the right decisions for themselves. That's why we have worked to build a national education campaign where we're working with local nurses and doctors and faith leaders and teachers to make sure people can get accurate information from sources they trust.
