CDC Panel Debates Whether All Kids Ages 5-11 Should Get Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine – NBC 7 San Diego
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Should All School Age Children Get the Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine? That is the question before an influential government advisory council on Tuesday.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the emergency use of pediatric doses for children ages 5-11. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must also de-register before widespread vaccinations in this age group begin.
CDC advisors are weighing who will get the most benefit as they consider whether to recommend the syringes for up to 28 million other children, or perhaps only for those most susceptible to serious illness. Your recommendation goes to the director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, for the last word.
“Today is a monumental day in the wake of this pandemic,” Walensky told the advisory board on Tuesday.
She said that while the risk of serious illness and death in young children is lower than that of adults, it is real – and that COVID-19 has had profound social, psychological and educational implications for adolescents, including increasing disparities in learning.
“There are children in the second grade who have never had a normal school year,” said Walensky. “Pediatric vaccination can help us change all of that.”
Small arms shots could begin this week as Pfizer is already packing its first orders, millions of doses, and shipping to states and pharmacies.
Doctors who have looked after hospitalized adolescents hope parents will accept Pfizer’s infant syringes and say they are safe and far better than playing around with a child escaping coronavirus infection.
“I’ve seen a lot of children in this age group who were seriously ill,” said Dr. Matthew Linam, Infectious Disease Specialist at Children’s Healthcare in Atlanta. “The risk of significant infection in this population is still very real.”
There were more than 8,300 hospitalizations of children ages 5-11, with about a third in need of intensive care, according to the government. The CDC has recorded at least 94 deaths in this age group.
And while the U.S. has seen a drop in COVID-19 cases recently, experts are concerned about a further spike in vacation travel and as winter sends more activity inside, where the coronavirus can spread more easily.
Pfizer’s vaccinations for children contain a third of the dose used to vaccinate millions of people 12 years and older. The 5-11 year olds are given two syringes three weeks apart, on the same schedule as everyone else – but a smaller amount per syringe with a smaller needle.
A study of 2,268 adolescents found that the child-sized vaccine was nearly 91% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 – based on 16 diagnoses in children who received sham vaccinations compared to only three who received the real vaccine .
The FDA looked at more children, 3,100 in total, who were vaccinated. The younger children experienced similar or fewer reactions – such as sore arms, fever, or pain – than teenagers or young adults after larger doses.
This study wasn’t large enough to identify extremely rare side effects, such as the heart inflammation that occasionally occurs after the second full dose, mainly in young men and teenagers. The FDA eventually decided that the benefits of vaccination outweighed the potential that younger children given a smaller dose could also have this rare risk.
The FDA’s decision came after its own advisors wrestled over whether every young child needed a vaccine – a key question also in Tuesday’s deliberations. Adolescents who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are more likely to have high-risk diseases such as obesity or diabetes – but otherwise healthy children can also become seriously ill.
And many pediatricians and parents have asked for protection for adolescents so they can resume normal childhood activities without risking their own health – or the fear of bringing the virus to a more vulnerable family member.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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