The EU regulator allows the first shot of COVID-19 for children aged 5-11

By the hand of Pushkala Aripaka

(Reuters) – EU drug regulator approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 on Thursday, paving the way for Europe to give its first chance to sustain a rise. infections.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, approved for use in adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the European Union from May, to be given in two doses of 10 micrograms as an injection in the upper arm over a three-week period. Adult doses are 30 micrograms.

Approval Europe is once again the epicenter of the pandemic once again https://reut.rs/32yJp0j, accounting for about half of all cases and deaths.

The inclusion of COVID-19 in children and young people who may inadvertently transmit it to others is considered a critical step in controlling the pandemic. In Germany and the Netherlands, children are now the majority of cases.

Pfizer (NYSE 🙂 and BioNTech said their vaccine, called Comirnaty, showed 90.7% effectiveness against coronavirus in a clinical trial of children aged 5 to 11 years.

“The benefits of Comirnaty outweigh the risks for children aged 5 to 11, especially those with conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19,” the EMA said https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ comirnaty -covid-19-vaccine-recommended-admission-for-5-11 year olds.

Although the final approval is in the hands of the European Commission, it usually follows the EMA’s recommendations and an EU source told Reuters that a decision would likely come on Friday.

“Today’s recommendation (…) is that the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective for young children and can provide additional protection,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Twitter (NYSE :).

Countries will not be able to start rolling out plans among the youngest children until next month. The first version of the low-dose pediatric version will be released on December 20, a BioNTech spokesman said.

Polish Health Ministry spokesman Wojciech Andrusiewicz told the PAP state agency that Poland would begin vaccinating children aged 5-11 in December.

The EU is joining more and more countries https://reut.rs/3COxM1t, including the United States, Canada, Israel, China and Saudi Arabia, which have cleaned up vaccines for children aged 5-11 and young.

Ten million children in this age group will be eligible for shooting in the EU. Germany will receive 2.4 million doses with the first shipment, enough to include half of the country’s 5-11-year-old children, a BioNTech spokesman said.

For pediatric shots, the U.S. regulator allowed a new version of the vaccine that uses a new buffer and allows it to be stored in refrigerators for 10 weeks.

EPICENTER AGAIN

Cases of the rise in Europe have caused unknown limits to the movement https://reut.rs/3nPYov1 as the winter takes over the region and people gather inland for Christmas celebrations, offering the perfect conditions for the deployment of COVID-19.

Slovakia began a two-week blockade https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europe-rethinks-booster-shot-policy-covid-cases-hit-records-2021-11-24 on Thursday, following progress in Austria, Portugal and while the French government is considering further cuts.

Although health experts have encouraged the wider use of the booster to prevent hospitals from overflowing, as they are losing their immunity to earlier shootings, vaccinating young people is another tool to fight the virus.

Some countries, however, have limited the use of COVID-19 shots based on mRNA technology used by Pfizer-BioNTech to younger ones after reporting rare cardiovascular side effects.

Anthony Fauci, the U.S. chief of infectious diseases, told Reuters this week that there had been no new safety issues since vaccines for young children began to be released earlier this month.

10% of the 28 million eligible children in the U.S. have had at least the first dose.