CDC Approves Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine for 5–11-Year Old Kids
Your child can get the first jab of the vaccine now in a nearby pharmacy
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The CDC Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices (ACIP) has unanimously recommended approval of the vaccine for kids, 5–11 years old on Tuesday, Nov. 2. The Director of CDC, Dr. Rochelle Wallensky, has signed off on the recommendation. This follows the FDA’s emergency use authorization (EUA) of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech in young children, The vaccines should be available to 28 million children between the ages of 5 and 11 this week in many parts of the country. The vaccination effort is expected to be fully running by next week, said Jeff Zients, the White House Coronavirus coordinator.
The FDA had confirmed the data from the companies that the shot was safe and 90.7% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19. The FDA scientists also concluded that the vaccine’s benefit for preventing hospitalizations and death would outweigh any potential side effects in children.
Pfizer/BioNTech’s clinical trial enrolled nearly 2,300 children, 5 –11, two-thirds of whom received the vaccine. In the first phase of the trial, Pfizer gave a small group of children the same 30 microgram dose used for those 12 and older. The majority of the children received 20 or 10 microgram doses. This process is known as a dose de-escalation trial. Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious diseases specialist and a principal investigator of the Pfizer trials, said this about the process.
“You want to find the dose that gives a strong immune response while trying to limit adverse events. The two-dose regimen of 10 micrograms each eventually won out.”
Two shots of the ten microgram dose, spaced three weeks apart, were well-tolerated, with side effects similar to those experienced by young adults. There were no cases of myocarditis — the heart inflammation condition — in the trial.
The rollout of the vaccine
The Biden administration has purchased enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine to fully vaccinate 28 million children, 5 to 11 years old.
The two-dose vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech will be stored in 10-dose vials and packed in cartons…
