This week the surgeon general announced that the ‘odds are high’ that The Food and Drug Administration would approve COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12 during the next school year.

Due to the fact that children cannot get the vaccine, CDC guidance currently says that students, teachers, and staff will all need to remain masked when school resumes this fall. However, Wednesday, President Joe Biden‘s top health official Vivek Murthy explained during an interview what’s on the horizon for children over the next few months.

During a recent episode of the ‘Skimm This’ podcast, Surgeon General Murthy was asked during a lightning round of questions, “What are the odds that a vaccine for kids under 12 will be approved during the next school year?”

“I think the odds are high,” he responded, despite his inability to elaborate further.

Usually, the FDA has to approve all vaccinations and medications in the U.S., but when it comes to emergency situations like the coronavirus pandemic, there is a special stipulation to fast-track the process.

So while three COVID-19 vaccines from pharmaceutical Pfizer, biotechnical company Moderna and medical device company Johnson & Johnson – have all been approved for emergency use in the U.S., none of them have actually received full FDA approval yet.

About five months after the vaccines were made available to the public, emergency use authorization was opened up to children as young as 12. But children below that age are still ineligible to get vaccinated against coronavirus.

Advertisements for the COVID vaccine are displayed on August 05, 2021 in Springfield, Missouri. . (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

During his interview, Murthy said that when it comes to public dining, he will only do so with his family where outside dining is available since he has two young children who cannot get inoculated against the virus yet.

“I’m probably going to do some outdoor dining,” Murthy explained. “I’ve got two small kids at home who are not vaccinated. So I tend to be cautious about indoor settings.”

“I wear masks when I’m indoors, and if I’ve got to take my mask off a lot, then I try to avoid settings like that,” he continued.

As we previously reported, last month Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke exclusively to theGrio at the White House and continues to stress the importance of vaccinations.

 “99.5% of the hospitalizations and deaths are among unvaccinated people,” said Fauci. 

In the first two weeks of July, hospitalizations spiked by 50% in all states and the District of Columbia. Additionally, the country overall saw spikes in hospitalizations from the COVID delta variant.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the President, arrives at the White House on July 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

But Fauci testified on Capitol Hill on saying, “we have the tools to end the epidemic.”

According to the CDC, the delta variant currently represents 83% of the cases in this country. Additionally, the American Association of Pediatrics reports 23,000 kids contracted COVID-19 just last week.

Concerned scientists and members of the medical community want people to get vaccinated to prevent more replications of COVID that could ultimately cause a variant mutation that a vaccine does not protect against. 

“If you are vaccinated you are going to be OK. You’re going to be protected against the variant particularly against hospitalization. That is the thing we need to emphasize,” Dr. Fauci told theGrio. “Even with the variant, the vaccine protects well against the variant, against hospitalization and severe illness.” 

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