Everything you need to know about COVID vaccination for children 5 to 11 years old

The vaccination process against COVID-19 continues at a steady pace around the world, after governments began to immunize children under 12 years of age, and Peru is no exception. The Ministry of Health confirmed that the vaccines for this age group will arrive this Friday and the protection of minors against the coronavirus will begin the next day.

Vaccines for children (between 5 and 11 years old) from the Pfizer laboratory are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States, with a two-dose regimen that must be applied with an interval of three weeks.

As the Mayo Clinic explains, these vaccines contain a low dose (10 micrograms); in relation to that intended for people over 12 years of age and adults (30 micrograms). In addition, smaller needles are used for vaccination of children with these doses.

Research shows that this vaccine is about 91% effective in preventing COVID-19 in children aged 5 to 11 years. For this group the doses also contain a different buffer solution than the one used for the other sector of the population.

This different buffer solution helps keep the pH of the vaccine stable for longer. The doses used for children 12 to 15 years of age and older than 16 years contain the same components.

-How did the FDA determine the safety and efficacy of vaccines in children?-

The FDA conducted a study with more than 4,600 children between the ages of 5 and 11 to determine its effectiveness. Of this group, 3,100 received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the other children received an inactive (placebo) injection.

The investigation lasted approximately two months in which the side effects were controlled after the application: As a main conclusion, they noted that the side effects were mild to moderate.

During the study no case of contagion was diagnosed; However, a week after the second dose was applied, three children tested positive for the coronavirus out of a total of 1,305 who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In contrast, among the 663 children who received the placebo, there were 16 cases of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 vaccine can prevent your child from getting and spreading the virus, the Mayo Clinic says. Bearing in mind that minors with obesity, diabetes and asthma have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill, being inoculated can prevent fatal complications.

-Do children and adults have the same secondary effects of vaccines?-

The study of FDA points out that the children who received the doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines had side effects similar to those presented by those over 16 years of age and adults.

The children presented pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever, joint pain, nausea, among others.

It is worth mentioning that no vaccine is available for children under 5 years of age. However, clinical trials with younger children are currently underway. The vaccine should also not be administered to a child with a known history of severe allergic reaction to any of its ingredients, says the portal.

-Myth: It is safer for my child to generate immunity by becoming infected with COVID-19 than through vaccination-

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, in English) noted that the risk of infection by COVID-19 of children is similar to that of adults, so no one should try to expose themselves to the virus on purpose.

“Children who are not vaccinated and become infected with COVID-19 may also be at risk for long-term post-COVID-19 conditions, hospitalization, multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), or death.”, assure the experts of this entity.

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