Could Vaccinating Children Sooner Have Made a Difference in the COVID Pandemic?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, early vaccine strategy focused on vaccinating frontline health care and other essential workers (who were the most likely to get infected) and older adults (who were the most likely to get severely ill). The Food and Drug Administration did not approve COVID-19 vaccines for children until much later: May 2021 for 12- to 15-year-olds, December 2021 for 5- to 11-year-olds, and June 2022 for kids under 5. 

John W. Glasser, PhD, adjunct professor of health policy and management at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, and colleagues explored the effectiveness of this policy in a new study published in Journal of Theoretical Biology. They modelled how COVID-19 transmission and outcomes may have been different if vaccinating younger people were prioritized earlier in the pandemic.

Key Takeaways

The researchers found that:

• Children caused the most infections of any age group during the pandemic and were the least vaccinated.
• Vaccinating children earlier would have reduced COVID-19 transmission more quickly.
• The actual strategy of vaccinating older adults first prevented more serious illness, hospitalization, and death.

What the Experts Say

“In future pandemics, earlier evaluation of vaccine safety among younger people might prove beneficial given their role in transmission,” says Glasser. “Vaccinating younger people earlier might also enable schools to reopen sooner, encouraging hesitant parents (especially working ones) to vaccinate their children, potentially mitigating the economic, educational, and developmental costs of school closures.”