Could the COVID-19 vaccine be available for young kids by Halloween?

That’s what Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, said in an interview Sunday.

Dr. Gottlieb, who serves on Pfizer's board of directors, sat down with “Face The Nation” and said the company may have a vaccine ready for young children, ages 5 to 11 years old, by October 31. Right now, the vaccine is only available for those 12 years and older.

"If everything goes well, the Pfizer data package is in order, and FDA ultimately makes a positive determination, I have confidence in Pfizer in terms of the data that they've collected," Dr. Gottlieb said.

His statements were backed up by Dr. James Versalovic, the head pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Versalovic said it’s looking good to get children eligible for the vaccine by fall, but in the meantime using masks and other safety measures should be implemented to help keep young ones safe.

More than 5 million children have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Tennessee has seen a recent spike in kids cases lately, with 32,709 school-aged children in Tennessee have testing positive for COVID-19 the last 14 says as of Sept. 8, the education department reports.

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