The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday subsidized Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines for children up to 6 months of age, and vaccines will begin in earnest after the holiday weekend.
CDC’s Committee of Independent Experts on Vaccines voted unanimously to introduce vaccines for infants and preschoolers after two days of public meetings. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky accepted the committee’s advice and gave the final green light on Saturday.
The White House said vaccinations for children under five would begin in earnest on Tuesday, after the June 16 holiday. Appointment availability may initially be limited, but each and every parent who wants to vaccinate their children will be able to do so. so in the coming weeks, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, who oversees the Biden administration’s covid response.
The federal government first made 10 million doses of the vaccine for its local partners. There are about 20 million children older than 6 months to five years in the United States.
The CDC encourages parents to contact their family circle doctor, local pharmacy, fitness department, or make a stopover at the vacunas. gov site to find out where vaccines can be given to their children.
Almost in the United States he is now eligible for covid vaccination less than two years after the first vaccines for the elderly were authorized in December 2020.
“I fully believe that vaccines deserve to be recommended,” said Dr. Brown. Grace Lee, chair of the CDC’s vaccine committee. “Obviously, we can save you hospitalizations and deaths. And I think we have a chance to spare you long-term headaches from infections. that we don’t understand yet. “
The American Academy of Pediatrics, on a Saturday, strongly advised parents to vaccinate their children and relate any questions or concerns to their family doctor.
Although covid is less severe in children than in adults, the virus can be life-threatening for some children. COVID is the fifth leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 4, according to CDC data. More than two hundred children over the ages of 6 months to four years have died from Covid since January 2020.
More than 2 million children in this age organization have been infected with the covid pandemic and more than 20,000 have been hospitalized, according to CDC data.
Hospitalizations of children under five with Covid increased during the winter wave of omicron, reaching the peak of the pandemic for this age group. The vast majority of them, 86 percent, were admitted primarily because of the influence of Covid on their fitness, according to CDC knowledge. In other words, they were not included in the knowledge because they tested positive for the virus after being admitted for some other reason of physical condition.
According to CDC data, more than 50% of hospitalized children under the age of five had no underlying medical conditions. Nearly a quarter of the children hospitalized in this age organization ended up in intensive care units.
Nearly 2000 children under the age of five have developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, after Covid infection. MIS-C is a condition in which several organ systems – the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or digestive organs – inflamed. Nine young people under the age of five died of MIS-C.
“This very transparent knowledge only destroys the myth that this infection is life-threatening in this age group,” said Dr. Lisa S. Sarah Long, committee member and pediatrician at St. Children’s HospitalChristopher in Philadelphia.
The Pfizer vaccine is given in 3 doses for children 6 months to 4 years of age. Doses are dosed at 3 micrograms, one-tenth of what adults receive. 6 months to 2 years of age and 82% effective in children from 2 to 4 years of age.
However, knowledge about vaccine efficacy is initial and vague, as it is based on a small population of 10 young people, with estimates ranging from 14% to 96% coverage compared to omicron. Bill Gruber, head of vaccine research at Pfizer, said the antibody reaction seen in young people after the third dose, which was greater than that of other people over the age of 16 to 25 who received two injections, reassures about the vaccine’s effectiveness.
“For the sake of some kind of full transparency for parents, I think it’s appropriate to recognize the uncertainty surrounding this,” committee member Dr. Matthew Daley said of estimating the vaccine’s effectiveness.
It is very important for parents who opt for Pfizer to ensure that their children receive the third vaccine to fight the virus. Two doses were only about 14% effective in preventing infection in children younger than 2 years and 33% effective in young children. 2 to 4 years old.
“I don’t need parents to feel like two doses are enough,” said Daley, a pediatrician who studies vaccine safety.
The Moderna vaccine is given in two doses for children 6 months to five years of age. Injections are dosed at 25 micrograms, a quarter of the point adults receive.
The Moderna vaccine is approximately 51% effective in preventing mild omicron disease in children 6 months to 2 years of age and approximately 37% effective in children 2 to 5 years of age. However, the company expects the vaccine to offer strong coverage against serious illnesses. , as the children had higher antibody levels than adults who received two doses.
Moderna is reading a booster dose that targets omicron for young people in this age organization with expected insights into vaccine protection and the immune response predicted for the fall, according to Dr. Lisa S. Rituparna Das, who is leading the development of Moderna’s Covid vaccine.
According to the FDA, the most common side effects of vaccines were pain at the injection site, irritability and crying, loss of appetite, and drowsiness. Few children who received either vaccine developed a fever above 102 degrees Fahrenheit, and there were no cases of myocarditis, a type of cardiac inflammation, in the Pfizer or Moderna trials.
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