America has gone a step further in the direction of immunizing millions of children with Covid. The US on Friday approved the Pfizer Covid vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11. After which 28 million American children will soon be vaccinated. A high-level medical panel took this decision while supporting vaccination for children. While making this decision, the panel took into account that the benefits of the Pfizer Covid vaccine outweigh the risks of side-effects.
With this, the US has joined the list of countries including China, Chile, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates that are vaccinating young children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday allowed the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children after discussions with the panel. Food and Drug Administration chief Janet Woodcock said that vaccinating young children against COVID-19 would bring us closer to returning to normalcy.
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Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced this week that the US government has purchased more than 50 million doses as it works to protect children. In a clinical trial involving more than 2,000 participants, it was found that these vaccines are more than 90 percent effective in controlling the epidemic. The vaccine’s safety was also studied in more than 3,000 children, with no serious side effects found.
Earlier on Tuesday, a committee of advisors to the government approved a low-dose dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged five to 11 years. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee unanimously approved the vaccine. The committee noted that there is no known risk factor in children and that the incidence of cardiovascular side effects in adolescents is very rare even when the dosage is increased.
Children are at much lower risk of serious infection with the corona virus than adults. But the committee members decided to leave it to the parents to decide whether they wanted their children to be vaccinated. FDA advisor and University of Arkansas associate Jeanette Lee said, “The virus is not going anywhere. We have to live with it.” Dr Eric Rubin, an advisor to the committee and associated with Harvard University, said this is not a final decision. It is only after the vaccine is given that it will be known how safe it is.
