FDA Authorizes COVID-19 Vaccine for Children 5-11 Years Old

COVID-19 vaccines are already authorized for children ages 12 and older, and the shots now have the backing of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for younger children ages 5 to 11. On Oct. 29, the FDA authorized the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech for the youngest eligible group yet to get immunized against the disease in the US. The decision followed the recommendation from the agency’s advisory committee, which concluded in a 17 to 0 vote, with one abstention, that the vaccine was safe and effective in younger kids. For these children, the FDA is recommending a two-dose regimen at one-third the dosage approved for adults. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet next week to detail which specific groups of children in that age range should get vaccinated. For example, after weighing the benefits of risks, the agency’s public health experts could recommend only children at high risk of severe COVID-19 get the shot, or some other subset of the larger group for which the FDA authorized the shot. The FDA committee members struggled with that question as well, since the data presented by Pfizer-BioNTech included balancing the benefit of the vaccine in protecting kids from COVID-19 disease against theoretical risks of side effects, nearly all of which have been observed in older children and adults. Those complications include inflammation of the heart tissue, which is known as myocarditi...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news