RALEIGH, N.C. — With Pfizer officially requesting emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, the process has started for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized for children ages 5 to 11.
Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for emergency use only in those age 12 to 15. It received full approval from the FDA for those age 16 and up in August.
The FDA is expected to grant emergency use authorization, or EUA, for younger children in the next few weeks.
But should you have your child vaccinated? And what are the potential side effects? Here’s what you need to know.
In the Pfizer trial for young children, 2,268 children ages 5 to 11 participated. Of those, two-thirds were given two doses of the vaccine, like adults, three weeks apart. The other third received placebos.
The trial found that the vaccine “demonstrated a favorable safety profile and elicited robust neutralizing antibody responses.”
The Pfizer vaccine uses mRNA, a method of instructing immune cells how to produce antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The company said the antibody response is comparable to that seen in adults.
A study from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in late August found that those unvaccinated are four times as likely to contract COVID-19 and 15 times more likely to die from the disease, The News & Observer reported.
When will it be authorized?
The FDA tentatively scheduled a meeting on Oct. 26 to consider an EUA for Pfizer’s vaccine to be administered to children ages 5 to 11. A ruling is expected by the end of the month, The New York Times reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could recommend the vaccine for that age group in early November, according to The New York Times report.
Why should I get my child vaccinated?
Dr. David Wohl, infectious disease specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the highly contagious delta variant has affected children more than earlier strands of the virus.
The week ending Sept. 19 was the third week in a row that those younger than 18 made up a third of all new COVID-19 cases statewide, Dr. Mandy Cohen, DHHS secretary, said at a press conference in September.
Earlier in the pandemic, when cases were peaking over the winter, cases in children made up about 10% from week to week.
“In the earlier part of the pandemic, children were very unlikely to get severely ill but were considered perhaps a source of infection to others,” Wohl said. “More children are now getting severely ill due to the delta variant than they were in previous periods.”
Delta is a mutation of the coronavirus that’s more than twice as contagious as the original strand, according to the CDC.
