Pfizer: 3 COVID-19 shots protect kids under 5
Three doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine offer strong protection for children younger than 5, the company said Monday, another step toward shots for the littlest kids possibly beginning in early summer.
Pfizer plans to submit the findings to U.S. regulators later this week.
The Food and Drug Administration already is evaluating an application by rival Moderna to offer two-dose vaccinations to tots — and set June 15 as a tentative date for its independent scientific advisers to publicly debate the data from one or both companies.
The news comes after months of anxious waiting by parents desperate to vaccinate their babies, toddlers and preschoolers, especially as COVID-19 cases once again are rising. The 18 million youngsters under 5 are the only group in the U.S. not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.
Pfizer aims to give tots an extra low dose — just one-tenth of the amount adults receive — but discovered during its trial that two shots didn’t seem quite strong enough for preschoolers. So researchers gave a third shot to more than 1,600 youngsters — from age 6 months to 4 years — during the winter surge of the omicron variant.
In a news release, Pfizer and its partner Biontech said the extra shot did the trick.
Preliminary data suggested the three-dose series is 80% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, the companies said, but they cautioned the calculation is based on 10 cases diagnosed among study participants by the end of April.
The study rules state that at least 21 cases are needed to formally determine effectiveness, and Pfizer promised an update as soon as more data is available.