THE United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children aged 5 to 11, a breakthrough that could get kids to return to school with additional safety.
As this was determined by the FDA review this week, the authorities said this would pave the way for a shot to be allowed for that age group as early as next month.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is to meet on Oct 26 (Tuesday). They will discuss whether to allow the vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, thus making it the first COVID-19 vaccine for younger kids.
In the US, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is fully approved for people 16 years and above, and has an Emergency Use Authorization for children who are aged between 12 to 15.
The breakthrough means other countries might also follow the US if the FDA were to allow its use for kids aged 5 to 11.
Children have accounted for nearly 15% of all COVID-19 cases in the US since the start of the pandemic but with the surge in the Delta variant, children amounted to about 22.4% of the cases for the week ending August 26.
Southeast Asian kids
At least 140 million children in Southeast Asia faced school closures since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year.
Many of these children have been waiting for more than a year to return to their classrooms, according to the report, “Situation Analysis on the Effects and Responses to COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Asia”, released by UNICEF and UNESCO last week.
Vaccinating the kids will allow them to return safely to schools and in September, Malaysia said it was in talks with a vaccine maker to buy vaccines meant for children under the age of 12.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, without naming the company, said the vaccine maker was in the midst of submitting clinical data on the vaccines, which could be administered to children.
Nevertheless, Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine distributor Pharmaniaga, in a media release, said parents are assured that the vaccine for children and adolescents is safe.
It cites the fact that more than 63 million doses have been administered to the population aged 12 to 17 years in China.
“The Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) analysis of 63 million vaccination suggests that Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine has an overall good safety profile amongst the children population and the data collected were mainly routine injection site events with normal symptoms such as dizziness and nausea, which are very mild,” it remarked. – Oct 24, 2021.
