The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday signed off on booster shots for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.
This final endorsement from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came mere hours after the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 11-1, with one abstention, in favor of giving 5 to 11-year-olds the boosters after at least five months from their second dose.
Cases are once again surging in the United States, propelled by the omicron subvariant BA.2, and an offshoot of that strain, BA.2.12.1.
While children are generally less likely than adults to show serious symptoms from the coronavirus, more than 15,000 children ages 5-11 have been hospitalized and at least 189 of them have died, according to the CDC.
The panel convened following the Food and Drug Administration authorizing booster shots for this age group on Tuesday.
Pfizer representatives at Thursday’s meeting presented clinical trial data showing a 10 microgram booster shot — a third of the dosage given to people 12 and up — raised antibody levels against both the original of the coronavirus and the newer, more infectious omicron variant.
