It was announced yesterday, November 2, 2021, that the Director of the Center for Disease Control has endorsed a recommendation made by the Center for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) that children between the ages of five and eleven be vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine.
This new announcement would make the vaccine available to 28 million children in the United States, allowing providers to begin vaccinating immediately.
COVID-19 cases in children can result in hospitalizations, deaths, MIS-C (inflammatory syndromes) and long-term complications, such as “long COVID,” in which symptoms can linger for months. The spread of the Delta variant resulted in a surge of COVID-19 cases in children throughout the summer. During a 6-week period in late June to mid-August, COVID-19 hospitalizations among children and adolescents increased fivefold. Vaccination, along with other preventative measures, can protect children from COVID-19 using the safe and effective vaccines already recommended for use in adolescents and adults in the United States.
The Center for Disease Control says that the efficacy is similar in what has been seen in adults, citing a 91% prevention rate against Covid-19 in children between ages five and eleven. The Center for Disease Control goes on to say that the most common side effect of the vaccine is a sore arm.
Distribution of the pediatric vaccine is now underway and the Center for Disease Control anticipates scaling up to full capacity by next week. The pediatric vaccines will be distributed to pediatric healthcare providers, as well as pharmacies, Federally Qualified Health Centers and more.
[Source: Center for Disease Control]
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