CDC Expert Panel Backs Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Young Kids

In a 14-0 vote yesterday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expert panel recommended the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children age five to 11 years.

The CDC panel’s recommendation calls for children getting two lower-dose injections of 10 micrograms 21 days apart, rather than the 30-microgram adult dose. This dosage was supported by data previously presented by Pfizer, which showed the shot was 90.7 percent effective at preventing infection one week after a second dose, based on phase 2/3 data enrolling nearly 2,000 kids age five to 11.

In addition, young children in a 264-person vaccine group given a two-dose COVID-19 regimen at a lower dosage had comparable immune responses to those of 253 older participants, age 16 to 25 years, given a higher dose in another study.

More than 2 million children age five to 11 have been infected with COVID-19, resulting in 8,300 hospitalizations, the CDC officials said. The CDC did offer up data on deaths in that age group although it did say that there have been many 745 deaths among those under age 18 years.

The CDC panel was overwhelmingly in favor of giving young children the vaccine although there were some concerns. For example, the panel members noted more than 2,300 reported cases of a postvaccination multisystem inflammatory syndrome, and some panelists also worried about the risk of developing inflammation of heart tissues, a condition known as myocarditis. CDC officials previously noted a link between messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines, which includes the Pfizer shot, and have found the risk to be highest in young adolescent males under age 30.

Matt Oster, a pediatric cardiologist with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and a member of the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine task force, said there have been no confirmed deaths in children suffering from vaccine-related myocarditis.

The Pfizer/BioNTech jab, which is now fully approved in people 16 years and older, previously won FDA Emergency Use Authorization in May for adolescents (DID, Nov. 1).

A mass pediatric rollout campaign is already underway, according to Jeffrey Zients, White House coronavirus response coordinator. But the campaign cannot start giving shots until the CDC director approves the panel’s recommendations, which was expected as early as last night. ― Jason Scott