CDC recommends first COVID-19 booster for 12 to 15-year-olds

With the move on Wednesday, several doctor’s offices, schools and other vaccination sites from Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE will make booster shots available for 12 to 15-year-olds.

The CDC’s decision comes after its advisers voted 13 to 1 in favor of giving children an additional dose at least five months after the first round of vaccinations ended.

CDC Director Rochelle Valensky said, “It is important that we protect our children and adolescents from the complications of COVID-19 infection and serious illness. This booster dose will provide optimized protection against COVID-19.”

The dose is the same as that given during the first round of vaccination, and what adults get.

According to the CDC, about half of children ages 12 to 15 in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, which predicts that about one-third may return for a booster dose.

The CDC said there is an adequate vaccine supply, but increased eligibility could also hit an already high demand for pharmacy appointments.

Several experts on the panel said the Omicron-related surge in cases added to the urgency to promote teens.

“I see it as a surge that exceeds other surges. I see the number of cases very high. And just by the volume of cases, I will see a huge number of people in the hospital, and that’s what I’m about to see.” ,” said Jamie Lohr, a family physician in New York and a member of the panel. “Let’s whack this one down.”

Grace Lee, chair of the panel and chief medical officer for practice innovation at Stanford Children’s Health, said the additional doses could prevent infections as well as serious consequences and help keep children in schools.

“We have burdened an entire generation of children, whether they are infected or not, by the effects of Covid,” he said. “Infections and transmissions are affecting our ability to function as individuals.”

Keep Talbot, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and the only no vote, said she is not against promoting teens, but wants to focus on expanding the vaccine to all children.

“I really want America to move forward with vaccinating all children so that all children can go back to normal lives,” she said.

Until now, only people 16 and older were able to receive additional doses, unless they had a weakened immune system.

The CDC also updated its guidance to say that everyone over 12 should get a booster. Previously the CDC issued a modest endorsement for 16- and 17-year-olds, saying they could get a booster.

As part of an effort to make boosters available to 12 to 15-year-olds, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved shots for the group, among other steps.

The CDC on Tuesday endorsed shots for immunized children ages 5 to 11, which also got the FDA’s green light this week. The CDC said it would decide on the teen booster after its advisors weighed in.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices makes recommendations for childhood vaccines and other shots. The panel includes doctors, immunologists, pediatricians and other experts.

At least 16 million children aged 12 to 17 have received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine since it was authorized in May, which means immune protection is beginning to decrease in children who got the shots early.

Children and adolescents are less likely to contract COVID-19 than adults and usually experience mild symptoms when infected. Still some were hospitalized and in rare cases died. Some hospitals and health officials have reported an increase in pediatric hospitals during the omicron wave.

Preliminary studies indicate that a booster may be needed to fight the highly infectious new variant, and health officials are urging eligible people to receive additional doses. FDA officials have said that the boosters will help protect teenagers from severe cases of COVID-19 and may also help reduce the spread of the disease.

The FDA’s top vaccine regulator, Peter Marks, said on Monday, “Hopefully, by reducing the number of 12- to 15-year-olds who get Kovid-19 in any form, we will help reduce the transmission of Covid-19.” ” Monday.

Vaccines and boosters are taking on utmost importance as teachers and school officials hope to limit educational disruptions as the pandemic enters its third year.

Many schools are moving in an attempt to stay open, while the rapid spread of Omicron is creating a labor shortage. The lack of available testing has also created delays.

More than 4,500 schools have announced closures for at least one day this week, according to the Pelham, NY, data company that is monitoring K-12 school closures in 5,000 districts across the country. Dennis Roche, co-founder of Burbio, said the average shutdown is about five days, but varies from one day to two weeks as schools implement tests or get results back which has caused some teachers to stay at home.

According to a recent study published by the CDC, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was found to be safe and 92% effective in adolescents. Nevertheless, some parents have expressed concern about the risks of rare cardiovascular conditions, including myocarditis, associated with the use of messenger RNA vaccines, particularly in young men. Health experts have said that the risk of myocarditis in children who have been vaccinated is low and the risk to children from Kovid-19 is higher.

Dr. Marks said the risk of myocarditis in adolescents after the third dose was found to be about a third lower than the risk after the second dose. People who have developed the condition, he said, usually have mild swelling and experience an average hospital stay of one day.

A senior Israeli health official presented data to an expert panel that found two cases of myocarditis after Israel administered more than 41,000 booster doses to adolescents. Both the 13-year-old and the 15-year-old male recovered, the official said.

A total of 18.7 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were administered in the US to children aged 12 to 15, there were 265 confirmed cases of myocarditis, and most have made full recovery, a CDC official said.

The official said there were 12 verified cases of a heart-related condition in children aged 5 to 11, who were given 8.7 million doses, and most of the cases have made a full recovery.

Of the 976,882 boosters given to children aged 16 to 24, there were 13 initial cases of myocarditis with an average age of 21 years and an average onset of one day, the official said.

Also at the meeting, Alejandra Gertmann of Pfizer’s Vaccine Research and Development Group said the company expects data on the three-dose regimen for children under five to be available by the end of March or early April. .

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed