What to expect as US weighs COVID shots for younger kids

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

It could take U.S. regulators a few weeks to decide whether to clear COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11. First, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will publicly deliberate Pfizer’s evidence on Oct. 26. That sets the stage for the agency to declare if the shots are safe and effective for the roughly 28 million youngsters in that age group. If it does, there’s another step: Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will decide whether to recommend kids actually get the vaccinations. The CDC then gets to make the final call.