Pfizer Vaccine Disappoints in Kids Ages 2 to 5
2 min read 
FRIDAY, Dec. 17, 2021 (HealthDay Information)
Two doses of a pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine failed to spur an enough immune reaction in young children aged 2 to 5, the companies announced Friday.
That’s a setback for dad and mom hoping to get their youngest young children immunized versus the new coronavirus as shortly as feasible.
The pediatric trials used a 3 microgram (mcg) dose of the vaccine — equal to about one particular-tenth of the dose used in adult pictures. And while two 3 mcg doses produced a great immune reaction in babies and youngsters in between 6 months and 2 many years of age — identical to that witnessed in people today aged 16 to 25 — they unsuccessful to do so in the 2- to 5-yr age group, the companies explained in a assertion.
The subsequent action? Pfizer-BioNTech states they’re going to try out a 3rd dose to see if that produces a much more robust reaction, but they have no strategies to attempt any sum of vaccine earlier mentioned 3 mcg. Little ones underneath 5 will get the third dose two months after they have acquired their 2nd.
“The target listed here is to have an understanding of the opportunity of safety of the third dose,” Jerica Pitts, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, advised The New York Times. “We are researching 3 micrograms at this time.”
In a meeting simply call held Friday, Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer’s head of vaccine research, explained a a few-dose routine that operates for all ages of kids is the goal.
You can find a developing consensus that a few doses of vaccine, not two, presents the most effective defense in opposition to the new coronavirus, together with newer variants this sort of as Omicron.
Other than the ongoing trials in pretty youthful kids, Pfizer-BioNTech is also conducting trials of 3 doses of 10 mcg of COVID vaccine (which is a single-3rd of the dosage employed in grownups) in young children ages 5 by 12, the businesses said. They hope to comprehensive the trials and ask for U.S. Meals and Drug Administration authorization of a a few-dose vaccine series in youthful young ones sometime in the spring of 2022.
Little ones aged 16 and 17 can already receive booster shots of Pfizer vaccine: The Food and drug administration authorized that final week.
There have been quite rare instances of a heart affliction termed myocarditis observed in male adolescents and youthful adult men who’ve gained mRNA vaccines, prompting investigation into use of decreased doses in younger age groups.
A lot more facts
Find out a lot more about COVID-19 vaccination in youngsters at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance.
Resources: Pfizer-BioNTech, assertion, Dec. 17, 2021 The New York Situations
Ernie Mundell

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