Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, doesn't expect a rushed agency rollout of the new COVID-19 vaccine for children under five.
"I think it's going to be a little bit more of a slow rollout, relative to what we've seen in past rollouts with the other age groups," Gottlieb said on Sunday, while serving as a guest on CBS's "Face The Nation" program.
One reason for a modest rollout, from Gottlieb's perspective: Unlike the vaccine rollouts with adults, some children under age three cannot be vaccinated at mass-distribution sites.
"There are going to be pharmacies that are vaccinating children. CVS is going to move it into their pharmacies, but they're only moving in to the pharmacies with advanced care providers with their MinuteClinics," said Gottlieb.
He added, "Maybe around children's hospitals, you'll see some clinics stood up; but most people are probably going to get vaccinated in their pediatrician's offices. And it's going to take a little bit more time to get the vaccine into those local settings because it's more difficult to vaccinate a child who is very young.
"You need people who are specially trained to do that, and so you want the settings to be appropriate."
During the CBS interview, Gottlieb noted surveys suggesting that approximately 20% of parents with children under age five planned to vaccinate their children. However, the actual percentage could end up lower.
"As prevalence declines going into the summer, a lot of parents may choose to take a wait-and-see attitude and reconsider this in the fall. I think uptick will be pretty slow," Gottlieb said.
On the Newsmax Sunday program "Wake Up America," Dr. Peter McCullough, the chief medical adviser to the Truth For Health Foundation, said he didn't see the necessity in a COVID-19 vaccine for infants and small children.
He also didn't understand the government's supposed haste in touting an "experimental" vaccine, given how the vast majority of young children have proven to be resilient against the coronavirus.
"I think it was a mistake for the FDA to approve it," McCullough told Newsmax. "And clearly the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendation probably won't be followed by a lot of the parents."
McCullough then said: "Children have a very mild syndrome. It's not like our senior citizens, who are at risk," while adding the coronavirus is "easily managed" by children, especially those who get "an early start on treatment."
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