Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine 90.7% effective in kids aged 5-11

Washington, Oct 23: Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said their Covid-19 vaccine is safe and showed 90.7% efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of five to 11-year-olds. The companies revealed the data in a document posted on Friday ahead of a meeting of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scheduled for October 26. Two doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine adjusted in potency for children 5 to 11 years old proved 90.7% effective against symptomatic disease, the company said. Pfizer and BioNTech are applying FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) of a two-dose regimen of their 10-microgram dose for children of the mentioned age group. The two doses would be administered three weeks apart. The data show that the two-dose primary series of the vaccine given to children from 5 to less than 12 years of age confers a high degree of protective efficacy against Covid-19 during a period when the Delta variant of concern predominates in the US. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet on October 26 to discuss whether to authorise the jab. If authorised, it would be the first Covid-19 vaccine for younger children. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently fully approved for people ages 16 and older, and has an EUA for children aged 12 to 15.