Amelia Cutting
Children aged five to 11 are encouraged to get the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, US government advisors have announced.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, the benefits of giving this vaccine to young children ‘clearly’ outweighs the risks. An assessment showed that the vaccine had 90.7% efficacy against coronavirus in a clinical trial of children in this age group.
If given the all-clear, the US will become the first country to authorise the vaccine for young children.
How is this vaccine different?
A dose of this vaccine for children contains one-third the amount of active ingredient used in the vaccine given to those 12 years and older.
Like adults, the children would receive a second dose 21 days or more after their first dose was administered.
The vaccine also differs in that it can be refrigerated for up to 10 weeks: this has benefits for private medical offices and schools who can keep and administer it.
What were the concerns?
Several scientists on the panel were concerned about possible side-effects of vaccinating children so young, especially since this age group is not at significant risk of contracting and suffering from a severe case of Covid.
The models show that around 200 cases of heart inflammation could incur, however this would not be expected to cause any deaths.
Myocarditis and Pericarditis- the names given to the inflammation of the heart muscle and outer lining of the heart respectively, have been seen as side effects after vaccination with Pfizer and Moderna, especially among young men.
What are the benefits?
Despite concerns about possible side effects, Capt. Amanda Cohn- medical officer and physician with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and also a voting member of the FDA committee, said that vaccinating young children can save lives:
“We have incredible safety systems in place to monitor for the potential of myocarditis in this age group and we can respond quickly.
“To me, the question is pretty clear. We don’t want children to be dying of Covid, even if it is far fewer children than adults, and we don’t want them in the ICU”. she said.
In addition, data presented by both Pfizer and the FDA showed that vaccination five to 11-year olds could stop tens of thousands of infections over a six-month period.
For every 1m children who receive the vaccine over this six-month period, the vaccine would prevent between 45,000 and 60,000 infestions. This is assuming that the virus is as prevelant as it is currently.
US Immunity Levels
Only 57% of the US population is fully vaccinated: around 190 million people.
There are 28 million US children in the five to 11 age group, so health experts say that extending the jabs to them represents a crucial step towards boosting immunity levels.
Featured image courtesy of CDC via Unsplash. Image licence can be found here. No changes or alterations were made to this image.
Amelia Cutting
I'm Amelia- a graduate from the University of Leeds and current NCTJ Level 5 Diploma student!