THE Covid-19 vaccination for children children under five begins this Tuesday (21) in the United States, marking a breakthrough in fighting the disease in the country.
Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency similar to Anvisa in the United States, expanded Moderna’s vaccine emergency use authorizations to include children ages 6 months to 17 years and Pfizer’s for children ages 6 months to 4. years old.
On Saturday (18), the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, approved vaccines against Covid-19 for children under five years old, paving the way for immunizations to be administered in this area. age group.
About 17 million children under the age of five are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccination in the US.
“This is a great day. We have been waiting a long time for children to have access to the vaccine. We now have all age groups, from six months onwards, in the country that are now eligible for protection against Covid-19. And I’ll tell you, as a father of a four-year-old, this is a huge achievement for my family as well,” US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told Brianna Keilar of CNN on Tuesday morning.
Vaccines given in specific doses to children
Under FDA clearance, Moderna’s vaccine can be administered as a two-dose primary series, with doses given four weeks apart, at 25 micrograms each, to infants and children 6 months to 5 years of age.
While the FDA has authorized Moderna’s vaccine for children ages 6 to 17, the CDC has not yet recommended it for this age group, so these vaccines cannot yet be given. FDA clearance would allow children ages 6 to 11 to receive doses of 50 micrograms each. For those aged 12 and over, it would be given in doses of 100 micrograms.
Pfizer’s vaccine can now be administered as a three-dose primary series, at 3 micrograms each dose, for use in infants and children ages 6 months to 4 years. The vaccine is given as a primary series of two doses at 10 micrograms per dose for children aged 5 to 11 years and at 30 micrograms per dose for adolescents and adults aged 12 years and older.
Completing Pfizer’s vaccine series is a longer process as the first two doses are given three weeks apart and then the third dose is given eight weeks later.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher Jeannette Lee, who serves on the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, expressed concern that children did not complete all three doses.
“Three doses will certainly be beneficial. I am very concerned that many of these children will not get a third dose,” Jeannette said. “My concern is that you have to take all three doses to really get the protection you need.”
As for children who may age 4 to 5 years during the Pfizer vaccine series break, the CDC recommends two options.
the child can completing the authorized two-dose primary series for children ages 5 to 11 years or can complete the three-dose series for younger children but each of doses 2 and 3 can be the dosage for younger children or from 5 to 11 years.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologicals Advisory Committee has determined that benefits of both vaccines outweigh the risks and noted that the vaccines were “well tolerated” among children who received them in clinical trials.
According to clinical trial data, common side effects for both vaccines include pain at the injection site, headache, fever, chills, and fatigue. Vaccines appear to provoke similar immune responses in children as seen in adults.
Where can young children be vaccinated in the US
Pediatricians’ offices and pharmacies are the main places where young children can be vaccinated in the United States.
“We know that parents will want to vaccinate their children in pediatricians’ offices. Some people go to a pharmacy, some people go to a children’s hospital or some kind of community health center,” Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, told CBS Monday.
“But the bottom line is I think most parents will want to vaccinate their children in the pediatrician’s office,” said Jha. “So many pediatricians will offer the vaccine.”
As for pharmacy locations offering these infant formulation vaccines, pharmacy giant CVS and Walgreens have announced plans to supply vaccines.
CVS will begin administering Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccines to children under five on Tuesday, a communications representative told CNN .
“We will begin administering the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to eligible children ages 18 months to four years of age at our 1,100 MinuteClinic sites starting Tuesday,” said Matt Blanchette, senior manager of retail communications at CVS. Pharmacy, at CNN in an email.
“MinuteClinic is located within select CVS Pharmacy stores in 35 states and in Washington, DC,” said Blanchette. Consultations will be available on an ongoing basis in line with vaccine supplies.
Blanchette said children over age 5 will still be able to get Covid-19 vaccines from CVS pharmacies.
On Saturday, Walgreens announced in a press release that consultations for vaccinations for young children will be available starting June 25. Walgreens will vaccinate children ages 3 and older at “selected” locations, and appointments can be scheduled online.
Hy-Vee pharmacies will have Covid-19 vaccines for children under age 5 as soon as doses are available, a communications representative told CNN on Monday (20).
“Hy-Vee anticipates receiving its doses for the newly approved age groups in the coming days,” Tina Potthoff, senior vice president of communications, wrote in an email.
“Once we receive the vaccine and our appointment schedule is open for these age groups, we will post an update on our Covid-19 vaccine landing page, post it on our Hy-Vee store Facebook pages, and contact the media in our eight-state region to raise awareness of our pediatric hubs that are accepting appointments.”
Due to federal regulations, she wrote, Hy-Vee will only provide vaccines to children age 3 and older.
“Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, retail pharmacies, including Hy-Vee pharmacies, are only allowed to administer vaccines to patients over 3 years old,” Tina wrote in the email. “Patients under the age of 3 should consult with their pediatrician or healthcare provider to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.”
CNN’s Naomi Thomas and Virginia Langmaid contributed to this story.
Source: CNN Brasil
