COVID Vaccine for Kids Receives FDA Emergency Approval
The Food and Drug Administration voted this afternoon to grant emergency use approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged 5 to 11. Many parents waiting for this move celebrated the announcement, while millions remain hesitant to give kids the jab. Children will receive a much smaller dose than adults based on trials submitted to the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Pfizer earlier this month.
Credit: CDC
With millions of doses at the ready, the new demographic opens up the jab to another 28 million young Americas. The pediatric jabs will include a two-injection series spaced three weeks apart. The dose will be a third of the adult dose. Jabs cannot start until the CDC grants approval. Experts expect that to happen in the very near future.
Image Credit: cdc.gov
Debate Surrounding Child Vaccination
The approval today did not come without questioning from the FDA committee earlier this week. Specialist raised a variety of points including whether or not children will require two doses based on prior immunity as well as prioritzing those at higher risk for severe COVID infection.
Photo: Rutgers
“A C.D.C. study suggests that 42 percent of children aged 5 to 11 have coronavirus antibodies from prior infection, prompting some F.D.A. advisers to ask if one dose would be sufficient for children. Use of that study has been questioned by some scientists. F.D.A. panelists also asked whether only those with high-risk medical conditions, such as obesity, should get the vaccine, since it is clear they are most vulnerable to getting very ill with Covid-19,” according to an article in the New York Times today.
Photo: FDA.gov
Nevertheless, the FDA Advisory Panel approved the pediatric vaccine with a vote of 17-0 with one abstention earlier this week. According to the CDC and since the start of the pandemic, 8,300 children in the 5 to 11 age group required hospitalization due to Covid-19 and 94 of those children passed away. The vaccine trial included 2,250 kids, according to Pfizer, and proved that the smaller vaccine dose was “90.7% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19,” according to an NPR article.
Image Credit: Dado Ruvic/Reuters
With the approval today, children may be able to schedule their first vaccine jab appointments beginning Wednesday of next week, receiving the full series in time for the holiday season.
Feature Image Credit: MGN Online
