Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical advisor on the Chinese coronavirus, expects high school students will be vaccinated in the fall, making the prediction during a virtual appearance at Tufts University Monday.
“Now in a totally different situation with the Biden administration it’s very clear that science does rule uh and evidence and data really determine what we do,” Fauci said during the virtual appearance before explaining when he believes the country will see most children back in school full time.
Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, said there are currently clinical trials that are going to “get enough data that you’re going to have high school students very likely being able to return to school in the fall term.”
“We’re doing age the escalation studies in elementary students, elementary school students, that likely will not give us enough data on safety and immunogenicity until the, I would say reasonably speaking, the first quarter of 2022,” he continued.
High school students, he predicted, will be vaccinated in the fall, followed by elementary students in the first quarter of 2022.
“Just think high school kids back in the fall. Elementary school kids — when I say back, I don’t mean back in school. I mean they’re going to be back in school for sure. I mean vaccinated,” Fauci clarified.
“Hopefully the level of infection will be down such that all children will be back in school within a reasonable period of time,” he continued. “Hopefully by the time we get to the fall term and maybe even in the spring term coming up now”:
Currently, no vaccine has been authorized for children under the age of 16.
The U.S. has administered over 92 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s March 8 data.
It was just over one year ago that Fauci told Americans they should “not be walking around with masks.”