Fauci Says He’s Hopeful Vaccines for Younger Kids Will Be Approved in Weeks

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Wednesday night he’s hopeful that vaccines for kids under 12 will be approved in the next few weeks.

With schools reopening soon, Blitzer asked Fauci when he expects kids from 5 to 11 will be vaccinated.

“We hope as soon as possible, Wolf,” Fauci said. “Right now the data are being collected… We should have enough of the data to examine and make a decision as we get into late September, the beginning of October. Then the data will be presented to the FDA and the FDA will make a determination whether they will grant that under an emergency use authorization or some other mechanism.”

He estimated that they will get data “at least in one of the companies” by the end of this month.

Asked if it will be authorized before Thanksgiving, Fauci said, “I hope so, Wolf.”

“You don’t want to get ahead of the FDA. They’re an independent organization. They’ll do their thing. They do it very well. They preserved our safety of people in this country with interventions like vaccines and they also make a determination if it’s effective. I hope that gets done quickly so we can get those younger children vaccinated.”

You can watch above, via CNN.