An independent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel voted unanimously to recommend Pfizer’s pediatric coronavirus vaccine in kids 5-11, leaving just one more step until the shots can become available to the public.
“Today is a monumental day in the course of this pandemic,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Tuesday.
She said while the risk of severe disease and death is lower in young children than adults, it is real — and that COVID-19 has had a profound social, mental health and educational impact on youngsters, including widening disparities in learning.
There have been more than 8,300 hospitalizations of kids ages 5 to 11, about a third requiring intensive care, according to government data. The CDC has recorded at least 94 deaths in that age group.
Pfizer’s kid shots contain a third of the vaccine dose that’s already been used to vaccinate millions of people 12 and older. The 5- to 11-year-olds will receive two shots, three weeks apart, the same schedule as everyone else — but a smaller amount in each shot, using a smaller needle.
A study of 2,268 youngsters found the kid-size vaccine is nearly 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 — based on 16 diagnoses among kids given dummy shots compared to just three who got the real vaccination.
For the vaccines to finally make their way into the public, Walensky must sign off on the ACIP recommendation, which she could do within hours. The Food and Drug Administration has already authorized the vaccines for kids.
Pfizer already is packing and shipping the first orders, millions of doses, to states and pharmacies to be ready. An estimated 15 million doses of kids’ vaccines will arrive at thousands of sites across the U.S. over the next week, and the country has ordered enough vaccine for all 28 million kids in the 5-11 age range.
About 27% of parents said they would vaccinate their children right away once a shot for 5- to 11-year-olds becomes available, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released last week. An additional third said they want to wait and see how it works and another 30% said they definitely wouldn’t vaccinate their kids.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
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