A Harvard Professor Calls For A Clear Deadline To End Mask Mandates

Dr. Joseph Allen, a Harvard associate professor, is arguing for the end of mask mandates in schools.

According to him, the country has to practice utmost caution. If there is no firm deadline, we may end up sleep-walking into indefinite masking.

He prefers mandating vaccination for adults.

A Harvard Professor Calls For A Clear Deadline To End Mask Mandates

A Harvard professor is calling for a clear deadline to end mask mandates for children in schools. His comments came in the wake of reports of the FDA preparing to authorize Pfizer’s COVID 19 vaccine for children aged 5-11.

Biden administration, on Wednesday, outlined its plan to vaccinate more than 28000000 children aged 5-11 upon the authorization of the Pfizer vaccine from the FDA.

The administration has a sufficient number of doses. And it will distribute the same all through the country once it is authorized. The doses will be made available in smaller vials with smaller needles to make it easy for pediatricians to administer them to children.

The two regulatory authorities will authorize the vaccine in a few weeks, the country expects. The advisory panels of the FDA and CDC will meet on October 26th and November 2nd respectively. And a final decision will be taken afterward.

The White House understands that millions of parents are anxiously waiting to vaccinate their children aged 5-11. 15000000 doses will be shipped throughout the country upon authorization of the vaccine, it said. Millions of doses will be delivered every week afterward.

Parents, in the meantime, say that they are waiting for the vaccination to begin for children. Schools are reopening. And the Delta variant is still prevalent in the country. Last week, America witnessed 131,000 new COVID 19 infections among children. And over 1.1 million new instances of the virus have been added over the past 42 days.

Over 25000 parents and pediatricians have signed up to deliver the shots into the arms of kids. And Biden administration is collaborating with children’s hospital associations to open vaccination sites inside hospitals. The administration has even started the groundwork for the endeavor.

State governors are asked to enroll pediatricians to administer the shots the day they are ready to deliver.

The Delta virus infects children in the same way as adults. And they transmit it to others. This creates a dangerous situation since children remain asymptomatic most of the time.

Pfizer has requested the federal regulatory authorities to authorize its two-dose regimen of shots for children aged 5-11. Its kid-size dose contains only 10 micrograms of the vaccine. It is one-third of what the company administers to adults.

The company provides the vaccines as vials of ten doses and ten vials in each carton. Thus each pack will contain ten vials.

According to the company, the requirements of children are different from those of adults. And it is committed to fulfilling those specific needs.

Children will also be administered vaccines in their schools. The administration will fund States to launch vaccination sites and purchase medical equipment. It will also take care of the transportation of the shots to community centers.

Certain schools will also be connected to vaccine providers so that they may open immunization clinics there. Biden administration is even supplying vaccines to the hundreds of local healthcare centers and clinics in rural areas. That serve more than 3000000 children such centers serve.

It is in such an instance that the Harvard associate professor calls for a deadline on ending mask mandates for schools. If this deadlock continues, according to him, the country will sleepwalk into indefinite masking.

With the approval of vaccines for children below 12 years of age, there is no need for such mask mandates anymore. The professor also said that CDC offers clear guidance for adults in this regard. The agency, however, fails to address the issue for schools.