PFIZER-BIONTECH’S Covid-19 vaccine got the green light for children aged 5 to 11 in Europe today, paving the way for vaccinations in a cohort where the virus is rapidly spreading.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said a panel of experts “recommended granting an extension of indication for the Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty to include use in children aged 5 to 11”, using the jab’s brand name.

The vaccine is already cleared for use in people aged 12 and over in the 27-nation European Union (EU).

Pfizer’s jab has been approved for children in a small number of countries, including Canada, Israel and the United States.

EMA said children aged 5 to 11 will be given 1/3 of the dose that adults receive, with two injections, three weeks apart.

Pfizer’s jab is 90.7% effective in a study of nearly 2,000 children of that age, it added.

Side effects, including pain in the injection site, chills, headaches, muscle pains and tiredness, are usually “mild or moderate” and last for a few days.

EMA “therefore concludes that the benefits of Comirnaty in children aged 5 to 11 outweigh the risks, particularly in those with conditions that increase the risk of severe Covid-19”.

In the Netherlands, authorities had earlier this week said the largest increase in cases is among children up to the age of 12.

The regulator has approved four vaccines for use in the EU, so far: Pfizer and Moderna, which use messenger RNA technology, and AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which use viral vector technology. – AFP, November 25, 2021.