Vaccinating Children Seen As A Key Step Toward COVID-19 Herd Immunity

Nurse manager Lucy Golding draws up doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine March 14 in Stamford, Conn. Moderna has begun enrolling infants and young children into a vaccine trial.

John Moore / Getty Images

The U.S. has administered more than 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but the vast majority of those jabs are going to adults. Moderna announced Tuesday that it has begun enrolling children from 6 months to less than 12 years old into a trial of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Having the young vaccinated would bring the country “another step closer to actually achieving herd immunity and protecting everybody,” says Dr. Steve Plimpton, an OB-GYN in Arizona who is the principal investigator for the Moderna children’s trial in Phoenix.

Pfizer’s vaccine currently is authorized for people as young as 16, and the company is testing its vaccine on 12- to 15-years-olds. The vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson currently are for people 18 and up.