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The CDC Advisory Panel today voted to recommend Pfizer’s pediatric COVID vaccine for all children ages 5-11. This recommendation comes with the endorsement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, all of whom read statements in support of the vaccine at the meeting.
The vaccine was approved by the FDA last week, and the federal government did bought enough vaccine already for free doses for all 28 million US children in that age group. The CDC is expected to make the recommendation official very soon, and you should be able to schedule an appointment with your pediatrician or local vaccine clinic within days if you are not reading this.
A member of the American Pharmacists’ Association pointed out at the meeting that you will likely need to make an appointment instead of expecting to go to a pharmacy, and that it was due to high parental demand and staff shortages. There may be waiting times in pharmacies.
How does this vaccine compare to the teenage and adult version?
This vaccine, like the version currently used for adults and children 12 years and older, has been shown in studies to be safe, immunogenic (d COVID. Side effects are similar to those in adults.
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The vaccine is available in a pediatric formulation packaged in vials with orange lids instead of purple lids, at a lower dose than the adult version. This means that when you make an appointment, you need to make sure that you go to a clinic that can administer the pediatric version; an adult dose is not the same. (However, if a child accidentally receives the adult version, no serious consequences are expected – and that dose counts as part of their streak.)
Does a COVID vaccination make sense for children?
Children are less likely to get COVID-19 than adults, but they can, and they are definitely able to pass the virus on to adults, including family members. (More than 140,000 U.S. children lost a parent to COVID.)
COVID has killed at least 94 children between the ages of 5 and 11 in the United States, making it the eighth leading cause of death in that age group. More than 8,000 have been hospitalized, some with serious and likely life-long consequences. Yes, children are more likely to be asymptomatic or have mild infections than they are to be hospitalized or to die, but that still means many children will get this virus seriously.
For the week since the FDA approved the vaccine for this age group, I’ve asked pediatricians for their thoughts on who should get the vaccine and who might not need it or wait. The answers were all unanimous: the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks, for pretty much everyone.
“I recommend it to all my patients in the approved age range,” says pediatrician Daniel Summers. “Also the low risk of serious complications [of COVID-19] for children is higher than I would like to accept if we have a safe and effective means of making it even lower. “
“Vaccinating children is the best protection against COVID-19 and an important step towards ending the pandemic,” says Adam Ratner, Head of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Department at the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. He noted that the vaccine will benefit children directly, by protecting them from disease, and also indirectly, “including reducing the general spread of COVID-19 in the community, which can help protect those who are vulnerable and help that schools remain open and safe. ”