On Tuesday, a United States Food and Drug Administration advisory board suggested a lower dose of Pfizer-BioNTech-made vaccine for children aged 5-11-year-olds, a crucial step in getting around 28M more kids in America vaccinated against the lethal virus as the more virulent Delta transformation spreads.

The endorsement of the FDA’s “Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee” would now be considered by the agency, which could issue a conclusive statement within a matter of days. The committee voted 17/Zero, with one abstention to grant approval for the use of BioNTech/Pfizer-made vaccine in the five-to-eleven age group.

Children are far less anticipated than older to be hospitalized with COVID or suffer long-term outcomes from the fatal disease, putting a higher burden on the jab to prove safe and protective to validate its risk.

No surprise

FDA expert advisors vote (by 17 to 0 with 1 abstention)

saying benefits of Pfizer vaccine for kids 5 to 11 clearly outweigh the risks

They got it right

I expect FDA to authorize it and next week, CDC to as well

And soon, kids 5-11 will get the shot

Terrific

— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) October 26, 2021

Moreover, the US FDA does not always follow the advice of its independent panel, but it often does. A CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee is likely to make its own suggestion. If it issues a recommendation and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, puts his signature, doses for younger kids could commence instantly.

Lower Dose and Smaller Needles For Children

Leader of the Cancer Virology Program at the UPCI (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute), Dr. Patrick S. Moore, MD, said that it is very challenging for him to believe that the risk for a severe consequence is going to come close to the known peril that they’ve seen for that virus in children.

Furthermore, thousands of this age group that has been admitted to hospitals, some of them are disabled from the highly transmissible virus, on top of the external cost to those children’s parents, to schools, to society. So forth, He added, to him, it appears like it is a tough decision, but an obvious one.

Moreover, according to a study presented to the advisory committee, over forty percent of US children ages 5-11-years have already been infected with deadly COVID. Thus, it’s not apparent whether adding a jab would boost protection for those children.

The US administration stated it determined to distribute COVID vaccine doses as early as it’s approved by the CDC and FDA, which is anticipated to happen early in November. In addition, the Biden administration said it has procured enough jab to vaccinate some 28M children ages five-to-eleven in America, and would distribute it in lower dosage with smaller needles to make it easier for pharmacists and children’s doctors to administer to this age group.

In addition, numerous parents express they’re eagerly waiting for the jab’s approval with schools now open across America and the contagious Delta variant driving a surge in children’s COVID-19 cases.

Read Also: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe, Effective Enough For 5-11-Year-Olds, Study Results