Covid-19: Pfizer Says Its Vaccine Is Safe For Children Ages 5 To 11
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The Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories have revealed the positive results of their test carried out on children aged 5 to 11 years. Its vaccine against Covid-19 is "safe", eliciting a "robust" and "well tolerated" immune response, they say in a statement.
Children between the ages of 12 and 17 can benefit from the Covid-19 vaccine from June 15. So far, a large part of the population has received a first injection. Faced with the spread of the Delta variant, a question arises: Should children under the age of 12 be vaccinated? If the benefits of the Covid vaccine for young people are still debated, Pfizer and BioNTech have just announced that their vaccine is "safe" for children ages 5 to 11.
Pfizer: a "robust" immune response and a "well-tolerated" vaccine
The Pfizer and BionTech laboratories released, through a press release published on September 20, the "positive results" of the test carried out on 2,268 children aged 5 to 11 years. Participants received two injections of the vaccine at a dose of 10 micrograms 21 days apart. As a reminder, in those over 12 years of age, the injected dose is 30 micrograms.
The results indicate that its vaccine against Covid-19 is "safe", eliciting a "robust" and "well tolerated" immune response. The immune response obtained is also "comparable" to that seen in volunteers aged 16 to 25, who formed the control group during this trial, say Pfizer and BioNTech. The same is true for side effects, which were also comparable to those identified in people aged 16 to 25.
Given these encouraging results, the laboratories of Pfizer and BioNTech said they were "impatient to extend the protection offered by the vaccine to this younger population, subject to regulatory approval," according to the president and CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla.
Covid-19 vaccine: are children more at risk of contracting the Delta variant?
If the issue of vaccinating children under 12 comes up, it is in particular because of the spread of variants of the coronavirus. "We are monitoring the spread of the Delta variant and the substantial threat it poses to children," said Albert Bourla in particular.
During the month of August, American health professionals warned of an increase in hospitalizations for the Delta variant in children. However, data released in early September by the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that while hospitalizations had increased fivefold among children and adolescents, there had been no progress during the period when Delta variant.
The CDC had also highlighted the efficacy of the Covid vaccine in young people, adding that hospitalization rates were 10 times higher in unvaccinated children and adolescents than in those with a full vaccination schedule.
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