CDC advisors to discuss Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine for young children

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children ages 5 to 11, a first for that age group. The shots, given in two doses spaced three weeks apart, contain one-third the dose of the authorized vaccine for people 12 years of age and older.

The FDA said clinical trials of Pfizer’s vaccine showed it was 90.7% effective in preventing Covid-19 in children ages 5 to 11 and was generally safe.

The FDA’s authorization was the first of two steps required before the shots were widely available for children.

The FDA, which regulates a range of medical products, must authorize or approve a vaccine before it can be used outside of clinical trials. Once a vaccine is authorized, CDC sets policies about whether people should receive it, which groups, and at what times.

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices considers input from a panel of outside doctors and public-health experts. That committee is to meet to review the evidence for the use of Pfizer’s vaccine in children.

If the committee recommends the vaccine and the CDC signs it, the shots could be available to children shortly afterwards.

The FDA did not put any restrictions in its authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. It’s possible that the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee may make a different recommendation, saying that children with chronic medical conditions should be put at higher risk for more severe Covid-19, while issuing a modest recommendation that Healthy children can be vaccinated.

The risk of severe Covid-19 in children is much lower than in adults. Yet many have been hospitalized, and at least 691 children under the age of 18 have died of Covid-19 in the US, including 146 deaths in the age group of 5 to 11 years, according to the FDA. Huh.

According to many health experts, vaccination can also help protect children from virus infection.

Last week, an FDA advisory committee recommended that the agency authorize the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. Yet some committee members suggested that CDC could further refine the recommendation by prioritizing vaccination of children with underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk of severe Covid-19.

Some members of the committee suggested that it was less necessary to vaccinate healthy children or those who had previously had a coronavirus infection, especially in light of the potential risk of a heart-inflammatory condition associated with the rare vaccine.

Pfizer’s vaccine, along with Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine, has been associated with a higher risk of heart-inflammatory conditions, including myocarditis, especially in men under the age of 30.

The FDA said the vaccine’s overall benefits in preventing Covid-19 disease and hospitalization would outweigh the risk of heart conditions in children aged 5 to 11.