CDC panel OKs 3rd Pfizer shot for kids 5-11
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientific advisory committee voted Thursday to recommend a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, potentially giving millions of kids the chance for increased protection against COVID-19.
CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is expected to quickly sign off on the recommendation, meaning parents could begin getting booster doses for their children as early as the weekend.
The decision also means immunocompromised children who already have received a third dose would be eligible to receive a fourth shot.
Two days ago, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 booster shot for this age group. The news comes as it becomes increasingly clear that vaccine protection against infection wanes over time.
The booster dose would be available to children five months after completing their primary series of two shots, so children who received their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before Dec. 19 would be eligible for a booster.
Previously, a third Pfizer dose was recommended only for children 5 to 11 who were moderately to severely immunocompromised.
The most common side effects after the booster were pain, redness or swelling where the shot was given; tiredness; fever; or a headache – all of which typically resolved within a few days.
Many of the committee’s questions were about myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that is a rare but known potential side effect of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Out of 18.1 million children ages 5 through 11 who have gotten the Pfizer vaccine, there have been 20 confirmed cases of myocarditis and one death, said Dr. Tom Shimabukuro with CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine coordination unit.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine thus far authorized for younger children. Children 11 and younger get a dose that is one-third the amount given to adults.
The companies submitted for an emergency use authorization from the FDA last month after a study found healthy children in that age group had a safe and strong immune response.
The booster dose will help protect children against infection with the omicron variant, experts told the panel.
While two doses of the vaccine are highly protective against severe COVID-19 disease in children, they do not result in strong protection against catching omicron, research suggests.
Three months after getting the second dose, protection against symptomatic infection with omicron was “no longer significant,” said Ruth Link-Gelles, program lead for the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness epidemiology task force at CDC.