US Scientific Committee Advises Pfizer Vaccine for Children Ages 5 to 11

A scientific panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States recommended the vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech against COVID-19 for kids between 5 and 11 years, with which the administration of this serum could begin in the next few days in the country.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimously gave its go-ahead, and now it only remains for CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to stamp her signature on the final decision so that the vaccine is definitely approved for use. emergency in the United States in that age group.

Walenksy herself was in charge of opening the meeting of ACIP, which is an independent group of experts that advises the CDC, with an intervention in which she defended the vaccination of children.

The CDC director noted that during the recent wave of the delta variant, pediatric admissions have skyrocketed in US hospitals.

According to data from the CDC, since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 among children between 5 and 11 years old, 8,300 hospitalizations and 94 deaths.

Added to them are 2,316 cases of children of those ages who have suffered a multisystemic inflammatory syndrome, which involves inflammation of several organs and is a complication derived from COVID-19.

Before proceeding to the vote, several ACIP members mentioned the impact the pandemic has had on minors.

“Too many children have lost a father or become orphans in this pandemic, which is incredibly tragic, so as an infectious disease specialist and a mother with two vaccinated children, I fully support the recommendation of this vaccine for this age,” Dr. Camille Kotton said.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years old – which will be 10 milligrams, a third of the serum of adults – will not be administered in large immunization centers, but in pediatric clinics and pharmacies.

The US government reported this week that it had already secured sufficient doses of serum for the 28 million children between those ages, so that from next week the vaccination of minors will be “fully operational.”

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in children between 5 and 11 years old.