Covid-19: The United States plans to license a Pfizer vaccine to children between the ages of 12 and 15 | Society

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering permission to use the vaccine against Coronavirus From the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and Biotech for children and young people from the age of 12, and is expected to get the green light next week, according to what the newspaper reported on Monday. New York times. The announcement comes just one month after the company learned that its vaccine, already licensed for young people 16 and over, also protects the younger population.

The New York newspaper reported that according to the sources consulted, the FDA will announce the decision to license the drug even before next week. These same sources indicate that the state agency is also planning to approve the use of Pfizer vaccine Even for children under 12 years old.

The United States is the country in the world with the largest number of infected people, with more than 32 million cases registered. It also contains the most advanced grafting. About 50% of the population has already received at least a first dose and about 100 million people – a third of the population – have completed their vaccination. The US government has ordered the purchase of at least 300 million doses of BioNTech-Pfizer injection by the end of July, which are sufficient. 150 million people vaccinated. However, one in five Americans say they will not be vaccinated against COVID-19, for various reasons, according to an Axios-Ipsos survey in April.

Pfizer last month asked US authorities to allow its emergency vaccine to be used in adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 after a study of 2,260 individuals showed 100% effectiveness in that age group. According to the pharmacist, the vaccine was “well tolerated” by the children and side effects were generally consistent with those seen in participants between the ages of 16 and 25.

So far, Pfizer is the only company to claim a lowering of the minimum age for those vaccinated. By the middle of this year, Moderna is expected to present the results of its studies in the United States in boys between the ages of 12 and 17. In a promising sign, the FDA has already allowed Pfizer and Moderna to begin trials in the United States on children 11 years of age or younger, and up to six months old.

Approval of the use of Pfizer for children between the ages of 12 and 15 will add millions of people to the vaccinated population in the United States According to experts, vaccinating children, who make up about 20% of the country’s population, is necessary to end the epidemic and note that it is unlikely that The state checks herd immunity so that minors are also vaccinated.

Last week, Ugur Shaheen, the co-founder of BioNTech (the German laboratory that manufactures the vaccine linked to the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer), announced that A third dose will be necessary At the age of nine months or at most, after a year after the second, to strengthen protection from the Corona virus. The scientist explained that the latest studies show that immunity decreases over a period of months and that it will be necessary to reactivate it with a third dose, and perhaps with successive doses every year or year and a half. It’s somewhat similar to what happens with a seasonal flu shot.

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