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Pfizer says its Covid vaccine is highly effective in children aged five to 11

Findings submitted to US regulatory authority

Pfizer said the dosage was safe, and that trial participants had seen only mild side effects. Photograph: Ariana Drehsler/AFP via Getty

Aina J Khan
Fri Oct 22 2021 - 16:27

Pfizer reported data on Friday showing that its vaccine had a 90.7 per cent efficacy rate in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in a clinical trial of children ages aged 5 to 11.

The company submitted the information to the US Food and Drug Administration, which was expected to release its own analysis of the data later in the day.

Children in the trial received a dose of 10 micrograms, smaller than the 30-microgram dose given to adults.

The company said that the dosage was safe, and that trial participants had seen only mild side effects. Of 2,268 children in the trial, twice as many were given the vaccine as received a placebo.

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Sixteen children who received the placebo got Covid-19, compared with three who received the vaccine.

Meeting

The company released the data before a meeting next week at which expert advisers to the FDA will decide whether to recommend that the agency authorise the vaccine for children in this age group. US federal regulators have already made the vaccine available for those 12 and older, as it has been in the Republic.

If the FDA authorises the vaccine for ages 5 to 11 – a move that could help protect more than 28 million people in the US – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will then make recommendations to the agency next month on how the shots should be administered. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times

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