(WXYZ) — The debate over masks has been amplified as many children are not yet old enough to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The FDA gave its full approval for the Pfizer vaccine on Monday, and approval for children 12 to 15 should soon follow. But what about for those under 12?
Joining us to talk in the 7 UpFront segment about it is the Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases Dr. Yvonne Maldonado.
You can see the full interview in the video player above.
"We at the American Academy of Pediatrics are a group of specialists in pediatrics from different fields and have really reviewed the data and feel very strongly that these vaccines are safe and effective," Maldonado says. "However, they are still in clinical trials for children under 12 and we are using different doses than the adult dose in those trials for children under 12. So the vaccine that's approved right now for people 16 and older is a much higher dose than what we're using in the younger children and we want to make sure that before anyone gives that dose of vaccine to a young child under 12 that we really have the data available for pediatricians and families to take a look at. So, unfortunately, we have to wait a little bit longer until all that data are reviewed by the FDA."
