Coronavirus News Roundup, March 20–March 26
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coronavirus-news-roundup-march-20-march-26/
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"Pfizer has begun testing its COVID-19 vaccine in children under 12,” writes Apoorva Mandavilli at The New York Times (Pfizer’s vaccine is already authorized in the U.S. for children ages 16-18). And Moderna also is starting its COVID-19 vaccine studies in children under 12, the story states. “Both companies have been testing their vaccines in children 12 and older, and expect those results in the next few weeks,” Mandavilli reports. With children under 18 making up nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, vaccinating them may prove crucial to generating enough immunity to the entire nation’s population to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (aka herd immunity), according to a U.S. National Institutes of Health infectious diseases physician quoted in the 3/25/21 story.