Jabs For Younger Kids May Not Arrive Until Midwinter, FDA Official Says

NBC News: Covid Vaccines For Kids Under 12 Expected Midwinter, FDA Official Says
Emergency authorization for Covid-19 vaccines in children under 12 could come in early to midwinter, a Food and Drug Administration official said Thursday, a move that could bring relief to many parents who have been unable to vaccinate their children. The agency hopes to then move quickly to full approval of the vaccine for this age group. One sticking point for some families who remain hesitant, the official said, is that the vaccines currently in use are administered under emergency use authorization and have not been given full approval by the FDA. Full approval, if it comes quickly after the emergency round, could alleviate that concern. (Edwards, 7/15)

CBS News: Cases Of Respiratory Virus Surge In Young Children Amid Rare Summer Outbreak 
For 10 days, a machine at Cook Children's Medical Center in Forth Worth, Texas, has helped a 9-month-old baby breathe. At first, Kate Crowell thought her son, Bridger, was coming down with a cold. "He would have coughing bouts where he was choking," Crowell said. Bridger is among the children battling a rare summer outbreak of a virus that attacks the lungs. Parents around the country are being warned about Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, a disease that infects the lungs and breathing passages and usually occurs in the winter. (Villarreal, 7/15)

The Atlantic: COVID-19’s Effects on Kids Are Even Stranger Than We Thought
The U.S. fell short of its goal of giving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4, but not by much. About two-thirds of everyone above the age of 18 had gotten a shot when the holiday arrived, with coverage among seniors surpassing even that benchmark. That leaves kids—mostly unvaccinated—as the Americans most exposed to the pandemic this summer, while the Delta variant spreads. It’s said that COVID-19 may soon be a disease of the young. If that’s what’s coming, then its effects on children must be better understood. (Khamsi, 7/15)

Scientific American: Kids Get 'Long COVID' Too 
As COVID-19 has ripped through communities, children have often been spared the worst of the disease’s impacts. But the spectre of long COVID developing in children is forcing researchers to reconsider the cost of the pandemic for younger people. The question is particularly relevant as the proportion of infections that are in young people rises in countries where many adults are now vaccinated—and as debates about the benefits of vaccinating children intensify. (Lewis, 7/15)

In other pediatric news —

Modern Healthcare: Lagging Childhood Vaccinations Lead To Call For Action
Pediatric office visits fell 27% during the pandemic, the result of economic hardship and safety measures meant to limit exposure to COVID-19, according a report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Thursday. The decline in well-child appointments has led to a lag in childhood vaccinations. Orders for vaccines from Vaccines for Children program were down by more than 11 million doses as of May 2 compared to two years ago. Vaccines for Children is managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and provides free immunizations to families unable to afford vaccines. (Ross Johnson, 7/15)

CNN: What The New CDC Guidance For Schools Means For Children 
Five full days a week, every week: After more than a year of remote learning, hybrid schedules and missed experiences, getting back to school -- "normal" school -- is all many parents and students want. But with Covid-19 surging again in some US states and concerns over new virus variants growing, what classrooms will look like exactly in the fall is still evolving. (Chakraborty, 7/15)