President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Wednesday that he is hopeful that there will be an emergency use authorization to vaccinate children under 12-years-old in the coming weeks.
Speaking to Wolf Blitzer, the controversial figure said that it is possible there could be enough data collected to make a decision by the end of September.
“We hope as soon as possible, Wolf,” Fauci said. “Right now the data are being collected… We should have enough of the data to examine and make a decision as we get into late September, the beginning of October. Then the data will be presented to the FDA and the FDA will make a determination whether they will grant that under an emergency use authorization or some other mechanism.”
Fauci said he expects to have data from “at least in one of the companies” by the end of September.
Asked if it would be available for our youngest children by Thanksgiving, Fauci said “I hope so, Wolf.”
“You don’t want to get ahead of the FDA. They’re an independent organization. They’ll do their thing. They do it very well. They preserved our safety of people in this country with interventions like vaccines and they also make a determination if it’s effective. I hope that gets done quickly so we can get those younger children vaccinated.”
Fauci believes that children should be required to get vaccinated to go to school.
ICYMI: Dr. Fauci says mandating vaccines for children to appear in schools is "a good idea."
Fauci points out, "This is not something new." pic.twitter.com/IlJ0LPldaV
— The Recount (@therecount) August 30, 2021
“This is not something new. We have mandates in many places in schools, particularly public schools, that if in fact you want a child to come in — we’ve done this for decades and decades requiring (vaccines for) polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis,” Fauci told CNN. “So this would not be something new, requiring vaccinations for children to come to school.”