白宫周二在与各州州长的私人电话中表示，各州应该准备在11月初开始为小学生接种新冠肺炎疫苗，并将在未来几天与当地卫生官员合作，确定哪些地点将接受第一剂疫苗。

在美国广播公司新闻获得的音频中，白宫官员告诉州长们，一旦联邦监管机构批准，预计2800万5至11岁的儿童将有资格获得儿科剂量。

一旦发生这种情况，儿科辉瑞疫苗将分100剂包装分发。这些剂量约为成人剂量的三分之一，将被送往数千个地点，包括儿科医生、家庭医生、医院、诊所和药店，这些地方都加入了一项联邦计划，保证疫苗是免费提供的。

一些州也计划通过学校提供疫苗。

齐恩茨说，各州应该预料到最初的注射热潮，并确保家长可以轻松安排预约。

他说:“重要的是，我们所有人都要认识到，家长们已经等待儿科疫苗很长时间了，所以他们会非常渴望让孩子接种疫苗，或者让孩子马上接种疫苗，这是可以理解的。

辉瑞公司对小学生的研究包括来自美国、芬兰、波兰和西班牙的4500名志愿者。这些疫苗在儿童临床试验中有效性的确切细节尚未公开发布，尽管辉瑞公司表示，该研究表明较小剂量是安全有效的。

ilana Panich-Lins man/纽约时报

5岁的娜奥米·麦克洛姆的父母为她和另一个女儿注册了辉瑞生物技术公司...

针对幼儿和学龄前儿童的单独疫苗试验正在进行中，预计年底会有结果。一种针对5岁以下儿童的辉瑞疫苗预计将于2022年初上市。

美国美国食品药品监督管理局和疾病控制和预防中心都必须同意，在给孩子注射疫苗之前，儿科COVID疫苗是安全有效的。

与这些机构的独立顾问的重要会议定于本月晚些时候和11月的第一周举行。

由于预期美国食品和药物管理局和美国疾病控制和预防中心会批准儿童疫苗，联邦政府从辉瑞公司购买了6500万份儿童两针疫苗。根据卫生和公众服务部的数据，70%给儿童接种疫苗的供应商都登记提供COVID疫苗。

父母是否会为他们的孩子接种疫苗仍然是一个问题，这可能取决于未来几周公布的临床试验细节。在9月份的一项民意调查中，凯撒家庭基金会发现，大约三分之一有5-11岁孩子的父母愿意立即为孩子接种疫苗，而另外三分之一的父母则希望“拭目以待。”这些数字表明，自7月份以来，小学生家长对疫苗的接受度略有上升。

总的来说，与成年人相比，儿童仍然被认为不太可能经历来自新冠肺炎的不良后果。根据美国儿科学会和儿童医院协会的估计，不到2%的新冠肺炎儿童病例导致住院治疗。​

尽管如此，卫生官员警告说，今年夏天和秋天COVID病例的突然增加导致了惊人的儿童住院人数。自8月下旬以来，美国报告了超过110万例儿科病例。

White House tells governors: Get ready to start vaccinating kids

In a private phone call Tuesday with the nation's governors, the White House said states should prepare to begin vaccinating elementary-school-aged kids against COVID-19 in early November and that it would work with local health officials in the coming days to identify which sites will receive the first doses.

In audio obtained by ABC News, White House officials told the governors it had enough pediatric doses on hand for the 28 million children ages 5 through 11 expected to become eligible once federal regulators give the green light.

Once that happens, the pediatric Pfizer vaccine will be distributed in 100-dose packs. The doses, which are about a third of what is given to adults, will be sent to thousands of sites, including pediatricians, family doctors, hospitals, health clinics and pharmacies enrolled in a federal program that guarantees the shots are provided for free.

Some states are planning to provide the vaccine through schools as well.

"We've secured plenty of supply, and we'll be putting in place an allocation, ordering and distribution system similar to what we've used for the other vaccines," said President Joe Biden's White House COVID coordinator, Jeff Zients, on the phone call to governors.

Zients said states should expect an initial rush for shots and ensure parents can easily schedule appointments.

"It's important that all of us recognize that parents have been waiting for a pediatric vaccine for a long time so they will understandably be very eager to get their kids vaccinated or kids vaccinated right away," he said.

Pfizer's study on elementary-school-aged kids included 4,500 volunteers from the U.S., Finland, Poland and Spain. Precise details on the effectiveness of the vaccines in clinical trials involving kids has not been publicly released, although Pfizer says the study showed the smaller dosage was safe and effective.

Separate vaccine trials are under way for toddlers and preschoolers, with results expected by the end of the year. A Pfizer vaccine for kids under 5 is expected to become available in early 2022.

Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must agree the pediatric COVID vaccines are safe and effective before any shots are given to kids.

Key meetings with independent advisers to those agencies are scheduled for later this month and the first week of November.

undefinedment purchased 65 million pediatric two-shot doses from Pfizer. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 70% of providers who administer vaccines to kids are enrolled to offer COVID shots.

Whether parents will embrace the vaccines for their kids is still a question and could depend upon details released in coming weeks on the clinical trial. In a September poll, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about a third of parents with kids ages 5-11 were willing to vaccinate their kids right away, while another third wanted to "wait and see." The figures represented a slight uptick in vaccine acceptance among parents of elementary-school-aged kids since July.

Overall, children are still considered significantly less likely than adults to experience bad outcomes from COVID-19. According to an estimate by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, less than 2% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization. ​

Still, health officials warned that the sudden spike in COVID cases this summer and fall resulted in an alarming number of hospitalizations among kids. Since late August, the U.S. reported more than 1.1 million pediatric cases.