Vaccine consultants at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted on Tuesday (2) to recommend the administration of an infant dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 5 11 years old.
Members of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 14-0 to recommend the vaccine for younger children.
Committee members spent a long time speaking in support of the vaccine before the vote. “We have another vaccine that saves children’s lives. And we must be very confident to apply it as much as possible to do what needs to be done, without significant concerns of serious adverse effects,” said Sarah Long, professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.
“As you’ve heard, we’re all very excited about this vaccine in this age group,” said Beth Bell, clinical professor of global health at the University of Washington, after the vote.
“But we also understand that parents have legitimate concerns and issues and that our vote is a way of telling the American public that, based on our experience and the information we have, we are all very excited,” added Bell.
“We were all talking about how we are going to vaccinate our children and grandchildren. But I think another point we made to the American public is that we understand that people have legitimate concerns and a lot of questions,” Bell said. “Encourage people to ask their providers to visit the CDC website, talk to their friends, their parents and do what they need to do to feel comfortable with their decision,” added the expert.
Now, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must approve the vote. The CDC said its analysis shows the vaccine’s benefits outweigh any risks in this age group, and Walensky has signaled that it will recommend it.
“We have been asking when we will be able to expand this protection to our youngest children,” she said in opening remarks to the committee.
According to the CDC, 745 children and adolescents under the age of 18 have died from Covid-19. “The chance that a child has severe Covid, needs hospitalization or develops a long-term complication like MIS-C [Síndrome inflamatória multissistêmica em crianças] remains low, but still the risk is very high and devastating for our children, and much higher than for many other diseases for which we vaccinate children,” added Walensky.
Walensky said it’s also important to continue vaccinating adults.
About 28 million children would be eligible, and for some parents and pediatricians, the decision could not take any longer. Children now represent a disproportionate number of new Covid-19 cases, according to a report published Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics — accounting for 1/4 of all new cases last week.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – an agency similar to Anvisa in the United States, authorized the Pfizer vaccine for this younger age group on Friday (29), giving the company the distinction of having the first authorization for emergency use for a Covid-19 vaccine for younger children in the United States. The FDA said the vaccine’s benefits outweighed the risk to children.
Pfizer says its clinical trial has shown that the vaccine offers 90.7% protection against symptomatic diseases in this age group – with a third of the dose offered to people 12 years and older. The company hopes the lower dose will reduce any potential side effects.
Data the company presented at the meeting indicated that younger children who received the vaccine were much less likely to experience systemic side effects, such as fever, than older children, teenagers and young adults.
Pfizer researcher Alejandra Gurtman told the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that fever was much less common among these younger children than among older people – with 6.5% of younger children experiencing fever in clinical trials of the vaccine, compared with 17.2% of children and young people aged 16 to 25 years old.
Millions of doses of the vaccine are already being shipped from Pfizer’s facilities to distribution centers across the country, ready to go to pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices. The American Academy of Pediatrics, which represents pediatricians, welcomed the decision.
“The vaccination of children will protect the health of children and allow them to be fully involved in all the activities that are so important to their health and development. Parents can enjoy more peace of mind by reuniting with their families this winter. [no hemisfério Norte] and sending their children to school, sports and other events that were disrupted during the height of the pandemic,” the agency said in a statement after the vote.
Jen Christensen of CNN contributed to this report.
This is a translated text. To read the original in English, click here.
Reference: CNN Brasil
