US authorizes application of Pfizer vaccine in children 5 years and older

The US authorized, on Tuesday (2), the use of the Pfizer vaccine in people aged between 5 and 11 years. With the authorization, the application of the immunizing agent in millions of children can theoretically start this Wednesday (3).

President Joe Biden, however, said the federal vaccination program for this age group should not be 100% operational until next week.

The application was released after the director of the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention), Rochelle Walensky, approved the use of the immunizers in young children. She followed the recommendation given hours before, unanimously, by the council’s advisers, who also supported the use of Pfizer’s vaccine in this population group.

Counselors said the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of the vaccine. Most of the fears about the vaccine in question for younger people stem from rare and mild cases of inflammation in the heart.

Recently, Pfizer stated that its Covid vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing symptomatic forms of the disease in children aged 5 to 11 years.

The FDA (US agency similar to Anvisa, which regulates drugs and food) authorized the emergency use of the vaccine in children aged 5 to 11 years on Friday (29). The agency authorized a 10-microgram dose of Pfizer’s vaccine for young children. The standard dose for people 12 years of age and older is 30 micrograms.

At the start of the meeting, Walensky said pediatric hospitalizations had increased during the recent wave caused by the delta variant of the new coronavirus.

The risk of Covid-19 “is very high and devastating for our children, and much greater than for many other diseases that we vaccinate children for,” she said.

Walensky said closing schools had detrimental impacts on children’s mental and social health. “Pediatric vaccination could help us change all that,” she said.

Biden described the authorization as a turning point in the battle against Covid. “The program will grow in the coming days and will be fully operational during the week of November 8th. Parents will be able to take their children to thousands of pharmacies, pediatricians’ offices, schools and other places to be vaccinated,” the US president said in a statement. communicated.

The US government and Pfizer have already started distributing the vaccine in preparation for a general vaccination campaign for children, many of whom have returned to schools for in-person classes.

Earlier this week, the White House said the United States has enough supplies of the Pfizer vaccine for the 28 million children ages 5-11.

Only a few other countries, including China, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates, have so far approved Covid-19 vaccines for children in this age group and even for younger age groups.