The Food and Drug Administration on Friday paved the way for children ages 5 to 11 to get Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The move will make shots available to 28 million kids in the US.
The FDA cleared smaller doses for children – just a third of the amount given to teens and adults – for emergency use.
On Tuesday, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make more detailed recommendations on which children should be vaccinated, with a final decision by the director of the agency expected shortly afterward.
The authorization followed the agency’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voting overwhelmingly to back the smaller dose on Tuesday.
The doses have been shown to be more than 90% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, according to the company. Side effects were also comparable to those seen in studies of people ages 16 to 25.
As of Oct. 21, nearly 6.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, though many health experts say the number is likely much higher. COVID-19 is the eighth-highest killer of children ages 5 to 11, a CDC official told the FDA committee Tuesday.
Deaths in kids under age 18 were reported to be 691, with 146 in the five to 11 range. The vaccine could also help reduce transmission from children to older people.