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The Food and Drug Administration, FDA approved today the third, boosting dose of Pfizer vaccine, for children aged 12 and over, while the country faces a high increase in cases of “Omicron”.
Until now the booster dose was recommended for ages 16 and up.
The approval, which comes as students resume school after the holidays, is not the final step. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must give their approval before starting to use the third dose in 12-year-olds, reports VOA.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said the decision is expected to be made this week.
The FDA also said that all children 12 years and older who qualify for a booster dose can take it five months after the last dose, instead of six months.
Vaccines still offer strong protection against serious diseases from any type of Covid 19. But health authorities are urging anyone who qualifies to take the booster dose, as it offers the best chance of avoiding the most serious infections from the highly adhesive variant “Omicron”.
Children usually pass Covid 19 more easily than adults. But their hospitalizations are rising during the Omicron wave, most of them unvaccinated.
The vaccine produced by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech is the only option in the US for children of all ages. According to the CDC, an estimated 13.5 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 – just over half that age group – have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Pfizer, meanwhile, is studying a lower-dose vaccine for children under five.
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