Pfizer: Jab works in kids aged 5 to 11
Trial using low dose produced antibody levels as strong as in teens and adults
Pfizer yesterday said its Covid-19 vaccine works on children aged 5 to 11 and that it will seek US authorisation for this group soon.
The vaccine is already available to anyone 12 and older, but with kids back in school and the Delta variant causing a huge jump in paediatric infections, many parents are awaiting vaccinations for younger children.
For elementary schoolaged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose — a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now. Yet after their second dose, children aged 5 to 11 developed antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults getting the regular-strength shots, Dr Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice-president, said.
The kid dosage also proved safe, with similar or fewer temporary side effects.Pfizer-BioNTech aim to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use approval by the end of the month.
US to end ban on EU, UK vaccinated passengers
The US will lift an 18-month-old travel ban on the EU and UK, allowing vaccinated travellers to enter beginning in November. Currently only US citizens, residents and foreigners with special visas are allowed to enter the US from most European countries. —Agencies
The US will soon reopen its borders to most foreign travellers as long as they’re fully vaccinated against Covid-19, a top White House official announced yesterday.
The new rules for international travel will take effect in “early November,” White House Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said. European airline stocks gained following news of the changes.
Travellers will have to show proof of vaccination to board planes to the US, and the new regime will also involve stricter requirements for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, Zients said. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention will determine the definition of fully vaccinated, for international travellers, he said. The measures also include stricter testing requirements, including for unvaccinated Americans. “We will protect Americans here at home and enhance the safety of international travel,” he said.
New measures
The new measures amount to a sweeping reform of strict entry rules imposed on visitors to the US to try to curb the spread of the virus. European countries in particular have complained that the US maintained travel restrictions on their vaccinated citizens even after they began allowing entry to vaccinated Americans.
News of the policy change sparked US airline shares to pare premarket losses. The United States currently bars most nonUS citizens who within the last 14 days have been in Britain, the 26 Schengen countries in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. The administration’s action came on the eve of a visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was expected to press President Joe Biden to lift the ban. British officials had hoped the president would announce a relaxation of restrictions when he came to Cornwall, England, in June for the Group of 7 summit meeting and were disappointed when he did not. Their frustration has only deepened since then.