AFP, published on Thursday 07 October 2021 at 9:30 p.m.
Some 28 million children aged 5 to 11 could soon have access to Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, after the laboratory filed on Thursday an emergency authorization request for this tranche of age, a new step in the immunization campaign eagerly awaited by many parents.
The first injections could begin within a few weeks, after study of the data by the American health authorities.
“As new cases in children in the United States continue to be at a high level, this demand is an important step in our ongoing efforts against Covid-19,” tweeted Pfizer, which developed its vaccine with the German BioNTech laboratory.
The US Medicines Agency, the FDA, had warned that once Pfizer’s request is made, the process could still take “a few weeks” until the injections can actually be performed.
She said last week that she had scheduled a meeting of her advisory committee to study the data on October 26. The latter will have to give his opinion before the authorization is officially granted.
The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) will then have to publish specific recommendations for use for healthcare professionals administering the doses.
If all goes as planned, the children concerned “will be able to be vaccinated by Halloween” on October 31, assured in a tweet Andy Slavitt, who advised the White House during the pandemic.
The United States has about 28 million children aged 5 to 11, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2019.
“We are ready, we have the supplies,” White House pandemic coordinator Jeff Zients told CNN Thursday morning.
– Appropriate dosage –
The Pfizer / BioNTech alliance had already submitted to the FDA at the end of September the results of its vaccine trials for this age group.
Pfizer / BioNTech conducted these trials on more than 2,000 children aged 5 to 11. The companies reported that the vaccine was well tolerated and elicited a “robust” immune response, “comparable” to that seen in 16 to 25 year olds.
The dosage has been adjusted to 10 micrograms per injection, compared to 30 micrograms for the older groups.
Many parents have been eagerly awaiting vaccine clearance for their young children, especially since the start of the school year and the return of face-to-face classes.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey at the end of September, among parents with a child between the ages of 5 and 11, about a third say they will vaccinate it as soon as possible. Another third say they will wait before making a decision, and a quarter say they will not get them vaccinated.
Younger people are less likely to develop serious cases, but can still get sick and participate in the transmission of the virus within the population.
The health authorities will focus in particular, during their study of the data, on the risks of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle which has been shown to be more frequently observed in young adults and adolescents after vaccination with the remedies of Pfizer and Moderna. .
The number of children participating in clinical trials has thus been extended, at the request of the health authorities, to better detect these possible rare side effects.
– And before 5 years? –
According to a count from the American Academy of Pediatrics, as of September 30, around 5.9 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in the country.
And a few hundred have died, according to CDC figures.
For the moment in the United States, the remedy of Pfizer is fully authorized for the 16 years and over, and authorized in urgency for the 12-15 years.
The Pfizer / BioNTech alliance said it expects to be able to publish trial results for two other age groups “as early as the fourth quarter”, 2-5 year olds and 6 month-2 year olds.
Moderna is also conducting clinical trials of its own anti-Covid vaccine on thousands of children, the results of which have not yet been released.
In Israel, children aged 5 to 11 at risk of serious complications from Covid-19 can already be vaccinated since August 1 with Pfizer, under a “special authorization”.
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