Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said “this is really just a time for parents to celebrate.”
“We now have vaccine that’s eligible for 28 million children between the ages of 5 to 11,” Walensky told ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday. She said deliberations yesterday at the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices meeting showed the real efficacy and safety of the vaccines.
“Importantly,” Walensky said, “we’ve taken the time to get this right, to do the science, to have a kids’ dosing schedule.”
“Really, you know, it’s taken us almost a year compared to when we had vaccine for adults,” she said, noting they’ve “done the due diligence, reviewed the science, made sure we had the appropriate doses for our children. And really now, we have parents who can have the peace of mind that when they get their kids vaccinated, they will be protected.”
Asked about parents who were still hesitant to get their child vaccinated and what she would say to them, Walensky said, “what I would say to them is, you know, these are new and you may have questions and we are here to answer your questions.”
“We are now beginning to roll out, to distribute the vaccine, to give parents the information that they need,” she said. “Go talk to your pediatrician, your trusted health care provider, your pharmacist and get the information that you need as we start scaling up vaccine across this country.”