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US CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11
Kaieteur News – The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children between 5 to 11 years.
The CDC noted that scientists had conducted clinical trials with about 3,000 children and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has determined that Pfizer met the safety and efficacy standards for authorisation in children within the age brackets.
A vial labelled with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
The authorisation for the vaccine comes after the CDC and the FDA weighed the risks and benefits of getting children vaccinated against COVID-19. “The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks,” says CDC.
When the FDA had granted the emergency use of the vaccine, it announced that the immune responses of children 5 through 11 years of age were comparable to those of individuals between 16 to 25 years of age. Additionally, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was found to be 90.7% effective in preventing COVID-19 in children 5 to 11 years.
CDC stressed that it is important to get children vaccinated against the virus because while COVID-19 tends to be milder in children compared to adults, it can make children very sick and causes them to be hospitalised.
Further, the CDC recommends that children 5 to 11years receive 1/3 of the adult dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and that children will need a second dose of the vaccine three weeks after their first shot.
According to the CDC, children may have some side effects, which are normal signs that they are building protection.
The Center noted that common side effects are pain, redness and swelling on the arm where the child would have been vaccinated, while throughout the body, some may experience tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chill, fevers and nausea.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony on Monday, during the daily COVID-19 update, had noted that local health authorities are preparing for rollout of the vaccine, pending its approval.
“We have started some amount of training of our staff, because this particular age group would require a vaccine that is one-third of the current doses that we are giving. We have started that training and during this week, we would complete that training,” he had explained.
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