The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster for children ages 5 to 11, without convening its vaccine advisory panel and despite the latest data showing higher case rates in vaccinated children compared with those not vaccinated.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, without convening its vaccine advisory panel of independent experts to discuss Pfizer’s data on 5- to 11-year-olds — and based on a study subset of only 67 children, CNBC reported.
The FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the boosters despite data showing higher infection rates among fully vaccinated children in the 5 to 11 age group compared to unvaccinated children, no studies testing the efficacy of the vaccine against the current dominant BA.2 COVID-19 variant and two new studies showing that for vaccinated people who get Omicron, the infection provides better protection against future infections than a second booster dose.
Continue reading “FDA Authorizes Pfizer Booster for Kids 5 to 11, Bypasses Advisory Panel”
