COVID-19: A booster dose for adolescents 12-15 years old is recommended by the CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading federal public health agency in the United States, announced Wednesday that it has decided to expand the Pfizer / BioNTech 19-to-12 vaccination campaign against CO and eV 15 years old.

This recommendation had already been approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) by 13 votes to 1. He suggested that the booster dose be given five months after the second.

The committee also proposed to extend the recommendation for the provision of commemorative doses to adolescents aged 16 and 17, ie for everyone to receive it, not just their portion.

In a statement, the agency confirmed that it now recommends that all adolescents 12 to 17 years old receive a booster dose 5 months after completing their vaccination regimen with the Pfizer / BioNTech formulation.

Cases of the new coronavirus in the US have risen to record levels in recent days, due to the more contagious Omicron variant. Its spread is accelerating as workers and students return from the holiday season, with the spectrum of hospital overcrowding projecting threatening.

Data from the Israeli Ministry of Health presented at the committee meeting show that vaccinated children are infected with Omicron five to six months after the second dose at a rate practically similar to the unvaccinated. If they do receive a booster dose, however, the rate of infections drops significantly.

Some scientists have expressed concern about booster doses due to the rare cases of myocarditis associated with the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, especially in young men. However, although the data are limited, data from the US and Israel indicate that the risk of developing myocarditis is lower after the booster dose than after the second in men, in the age range of 18-40 years, according to the data. of the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

Only two cases of myocarditis have been reported in Israel among the 44,000 teenagers aged 12-15 who received the third dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, according to data released yesterday by the Israeli Ministry of Health.

With 832,055 deaths from COVID-19 out of a total of 57.81 million SARS-CoV-2 infections, the United States is by far the hardest hit by the new global coronavirus pandemic.

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