NIH Director: The data is so compelling that COVID vaccines are safe and effective
Dr. Francis Collins reacts to Pfizer announcing the COVID-19 vaccine is effective in younger children on 'Your World'
National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told Fox News on Monday he supports eligible students getting the coronavirus vaccine shot even if it is not yet mandated to them, and applauded Pfizer's plan to submit data to the Food and Drug Administration for a vaccine dose small enough for even younger kids.
The New York City-based pharma giant announced a smaller dose of its two-part shot should be safe and effective for kids ages 5-11, but Collins noted they must still submit their data to the FDA.
"This is good news, but it’s still a press release. Pfizer has to now submit their data to FDA for scrutiny to see that safety and efficacy is what they say. What they said today looks really good. It’s one-third the dose of the vaccine [and] gives an antibody response that’s equivalent to what you see in 16-25-year-olds. So we’re on the right track," he said.
"The side effects seem to be quite reasonable. But let’s be clear. FDA will review this. They’ll have to have an advisory committee. They’ll have a public meeting. These are kids so they want all the data out there for people to see."
The geneticist added that in the meantime parents of students older than 11 should still seek out vaccine shots for their kids, telling "Your World" nearly half of those families have already done so.
"As far as the mandate, we haven’t done that for older kids. It will be up to parents. I sure hope parents, seeing the data, having the chance when the FDA has a public meeting, say this is something I want for my kids to keep them from getting sick and keep our schools in the place they need to be. Kids need to be in school. This is one more way to make sure that happens," said Collins, whose Bethesda, Md.-based NIH oversees the NIAID led by White House adviser Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.
Host Sandra Smith later asked Collins whether kids should still have to wear masks after getting the vaccine if the Pfizer shot is approved for students of all ages.
"It depends on whether the rest of us do what we need to do to drive this terrible delta surge away, which means getting the rest of the people who still aren’t vaccinated, like some of the parents of these kids, to roll up their sleeves," Collins said.
"It’s not just going to be enough to vaccinated the little kids. The data is so compelling that these vaccines are safe and effective. It just boggles my mind that we still have 75 million people in the U.S. that have not rolled up up their sleeve."
When asked about the FDA shooting down President Biden's plan to begin getting Americans COVID booster shots, only days before the White House was to engage in the endeavor, Collins said he is a scientist and not a politician – and that the situation there shows that science guided the FDA and not politics.
"What you are seeing right now is exactly what you would want. The science is guiding the decision. The science is changing week after week. We’re going to keep changing the recommendations. But you can trust the fact that the people who are looking at this are looking at it from the perspective of, 'what does the science tell us'."
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