Covid-19 booster raises antibody levels against Omicron for children ages 5 through 11, Pfizer and BioNTech say

By Brenda Goodman | CNN

A third shot of the children’s dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine raised Omicron-fighting antibodies by 36 times in kids 5 through 11 years of age, the companies said in a news release Thursday. The companies plan to request emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for a booster dose for this age group.

The new data come from a small study of 140 children ages 5 through 11 who were given a third 10-microgram dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at least six months after their second dose.

The researchers analyzed antibody levels in serum — the clear part of the blood — from a subset of 30 children in this group one month after their third shot and found that antibodies against the Omicron variant were 36 times higher than they had been after the second dose of the vaccine.

In an analysis from 140 children with no evidence of prior Covid-19 infection, antibody levels against the original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were six times higher one month after a booster dose than a month after the second vaccine dose.

The companies said there were no safety issues associated with a booster dose of the vaccine in these small groups of children.

Pfizer and BioNTech say they will ask the FDA for an emergency use authorization, or EUA, for a booster dose for children in this age group “in the coming days.” They will also share the data with the European Medicines Agency and other regulatory agencies.