Vaccine For Ages 12-15 Likely In May: VA Vaccination Coordinator

VIRGINIA — While everyone 16 and up is now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Virginia, the state is preparing for a younger group to become eligible.

During a news briefing Friday, Virginia's state vaccination coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said the CDC believes it is likely there will be an approved vaccine for ages 12 and up between mid-May to late May. Pfizer could be the first to get approval for ages 12 and up, followed by Moderna few weeks later, Avula said.

The New York Times first reported that Pfizer could receive approval next week for ages 12 to 15 from the FDA, citing federal sources. Pfizer's vaccine is currently approved for ages 16 and up, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson's vaccines are approved for ages 18 and up.

The state is preparing for the likelihood of older children becoming eligible by recruiting pediatricians to be approved vaccination sites and engaging school leaders. He doesn't expect the vaccine to be required for schools, especially under emergency use authorization by the FDA. But he believes there will be a "peer momentum" of getting vaccinated by making it convenient for children to get vaccinated in schools. Children still need parental consent and an adult present to be vaccinated.

"Most of our local health departments have already reached out to their school systems, and we are meeting with all the superintendents in the coming week, to just talk them through the options so that once we do get the announcement and we get approval, we hopefully have probably what, a three-week window before schools go out for the summer," said Avula. "So there may be a real opportunity to do onsite school-based vaccination for that population."

Vaccine approval for children ages 2 to 11 isn't anticipated until early 2022, Avula told reporters.

As for continuing vaccination of adults, Avula said emphasis is shifting in the coming weeks to get primary care providers more involved in vaccinations. He noted providers were interested in receiving doses earlier in the vaccination effort. But due to the limited supply, the state emphasized larger sites to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Now the state is starting to see a shift where demand doesn't exceed supply. As outreach focuses more on vaccine-hesitant residents, Avula said now is the time to shift more vaccine to primary care providers.

"Survey after survey shows that it's your primary care provider that you trust to make health decisions around," said Avula. "And we want to give as many people as possible, the opportunity to have those discussions with their primary care providers, and then be able to get vaccinated, if they choose to make that decision."

As of Tuesday, over 6.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Virginia. According to Virginia Department of Health data, 3,865,951 people have at least one vaccine dose, or 45.3 percent of the estimated 8.5 million in Virginia. There are 2,749,788 people fully vaccinated, or 32.2 percent of the population.