COVID-19: US Advisory Committee advises booster doses for 12-17 year olds

A scientific committee that advises Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, in English) approved this Wednesday a recommendation to administer the booster dose of the vaccine Pfizer Against COVID-19 to minors between 12 and 17 years old.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent body of the CDC, supported with 13 votes in favor and one against expanding the recommendation of the booster dose to adolescents of those ages.

Now the recommendation must be signed by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to make it official.

In the approved text, ACIP advises that the additional dose of Pfizer vaccine be administered within five months of receiving the full regimen.

Two days ago, the Food and Drug Administration The US FDA gave the green light to Pfizer’s booster vaccine for children between the ages of 12 and 15.

The measure coincides with the increase in COVID-19 cases in the country as a result of the omicron variant and the return of millions of students to classrooms after the Christmas holidays.

Precisely this Wednesday, the White House insisted that students should return to face-to-face education in schools, despite the increase in infections and resistance from teachers in places like Chicago, where classes in person were suspended on Wednesday.

According to data from The Washington Post, most schools in the United States returned to face-to-face education on Monday or intend to do so throughout this week, although there are exceptions in Cleveland (Ohio), Atlanta (Georgia) or Newark (New York). Sweater).

Around five million adolescents between 12 and 15 years old are candidates for the booster dose, having completed the minimum period of five months since they received the full regimen.

Of the 16.7 million adolescents in the United States, about 8.6 million are fully immunized.