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The European Medicines Agency has authorised the Pfizer jab for younger children
Spain is one of the many countries that have been holding back on making a decision on whether to vaccinate younger children until the wider experts came to a firm conclusion, and now it would seem that the wait is over.
On Thursday November 25, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted permission to pharmaceutical company Pfizer to offer their Covid-19 vaccines to children aged between 5 and 11 years old, although at a lower dosage than that which is offered to people over the age of 12.
The injection will be administered to younger children in two doses, with an interval of three weeks between the first and the second, according to a statement issued by the EMA, who has concluded that the benefits of vaccinating under 11s far outweigh the risks. This conclusion will now be sent to the European Commission who will ultimately make the decision on whether to roll out the plan.
According to the experts, the most common side effects found in clinical trials were similar to those in children aged 12 years and older, and included tiredness, muscle and headaches, chills, discomfort, and redness at the injection site. Children aged under 11 currently have the highest cumulative incidence rate of all the populations in Spain.
The main study involved almost 2,000 children aged between 5 and 11 with no underlying health conditions and found that the “immune response to [the vaccine], administered at a lower dose in this age group, was comparable to the one observed with the highest dose in people aged 16 to 25 years, based on the level of antibodies” against coronavirus.
Overall, the vaccine was 90.7% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in children under 11.
While Pfizer is the first company to receive support from European scientists, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) is currently evaluating the use of Moderna vaccine for use in children aged between 6 and 11.
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