FDA panel backs Pfizer’s low-dose COVID-19 vaccine for kids By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONEyesterday
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. moved a step closer to expanding COVID-19 vaccinations for millions more children as government advisers on Tuesday endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer’s shots for 5- to 11-year-olds.
The FDA isn’t bound by the panel’s recommendation and is expected to make its own decision within days. If the FDA concurs, there’s still another step: Next week, the CDC will have to decide whether to recommend the shots and which youngsters should get them.
In the 5- to 11-year-old age group, there have been over 8,300 hospitalizations reported, about a third requiring intensive care, and nearly 100 deaths.
Dr. Jay Portnoy of Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, said despite over 4,000 emails urging him to vote against the vaccine, he was persuaded by the data showing it works. Portnoy said he also was representing “parents I see every day in the clinic who are terrified of sending their children to school. ... They need a voice also.”
Panelists stressed they weren’t supporting vaccine mandates for young children — and the FDA doesn’t make mandate decisions. FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks also said it would be highly unusual for other groups to mandate something that’s cleared only for emergency use. Several advisers said they wished they could tailor the shots for the highest-risk youngsters, a decision that would fall to the CDC.
“I do think it’s a relatively close call,” said adviser Dr. Eric Rubin of Harvard University. “It’s really going to be a question of what the prevailing conditions are but we’re never going to learn about how safe this vaccine is unless we start giving it.”
