Why covid-19 vaccines aren’t available for kids?

American children who are 12 or older are receiving the covid-19 vaccine, but younger children are still waiting.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna are still doing clinical tests to find out how coronavirus vaccines work in children under 12 -- if they're safe and what’s the right dose for them.

"I understand parents' concern in wanting their children to get vaccinated, but we have to make sure we're doing the best and safest thing for children," Dr. Chip Walter, a pediatrician at Duke University and an investigator for the Pfizer trials, said.

Pfizer group study has divided its search team into 3 groups: 5-to-11-years-old; 2-to-5-years-old; and babies 6 months up to age 2.

The data collected from 5 to 11 could come sometime around September. The company also told CNN it could ask the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of the vaccine in September.

Data for 2-to-5-years-old could arrive soon after. For the youngest children, Pfizer said it could probably get data in October or November, and shortly after asking the FDA to authorize emergency use.

Considering authorization of emergency use, it takes several weeks meaning that vaccines for younger children won’t be available until the next fall.

"I can't imagine that we'd be in a position to even consider how to use these vaccines until the very end of the calendar year of 2021, going into the first quarter of 2022," said Dr. Buddy Creech.

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