<p>The United States on Friday authorized the Pfizer Covid vaccine for children aged five-to-11, paving the way for 28 million young Americans to soon get immunized.</p>.<p>The decision came after a high-level medical panel advising the government this week endorsed the shots, ruling that the known benefits outweighed the risks of side-effects.</p>.<p>"As a mother and a physician, I know that parents, caregivers, school staff, and children have been waiting for today's authorization," said acting Food and Drug Administration chief Janet Woodcock in a statement.</p>.<p><a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/tag/covid-19"><strong>SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE ONLY ON DH</strong></a></p>.<p>"Vaccinating younger children against Covid-19 will bring us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy."</p>.<p>The vaccine rollout should begin in earnest after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convenes a panel on Tuesday to further discuss clinical recommendations.</p>.<p>Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced this week the US government had bought 50 million more doses as it works to protect children, including eventually those under five.</p>.<p>In a clinical trial involving more than 2,000 participants was found to be more than 90 percent effective at preventing symptomatic disease.</p>.<p>The vaccine's safety was also studied in more than 3,000 children, and no serious side effects have been detected in the ongoing study.</p>.<p>In this age group, the vaccine is given as two shots three weeks apart, dosed at 10 micrograms -- a third what is given to older age groups.</p>.<p>Severe Covid is rarer in children than adults, but far from non-existent.</p>.<p>According to the CDC, there have been 8,300 Covid hospitalizations of children aged five-to-11 since the start of the pandemic, and 146 deaths.</p>.<p>There have also been more than 5,000 pediatric cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but highly serious post-viral complication, including 46 deaths.</p>.<p>Health authorities will continue to monitor for potentially highly rare side-effects, such as myocarditis and pericarditis (heart inflammation and inflammation around the heart).</p>.<p>The clinical trials were too small to detect these, but the hypothesis is they will be exceedingly rare, because the effect is thought linked to testosterone levels.</p>.<p>In male teens and young adults, the most affected group the effects occur mostly after the second dose of an mRNA vaccine at a rate of a few dozens per million. Most of the cases have fully resolved.</p>.<p>Covid itself can cause more severe forms of myocarditis, potentially more frequently, depending on the level of transmission within a community.</p>.<p>Beyond protecting childrens' own health, epidemiologists think vaccinating this group will help bring an end to disruptions to school and other activities.</p>.<p>But most of the panelists at a meeting of experts called by the FDA on Monday said they would not support mandates in this age group.</p>.<p>Instead, the decision whether to get vaccinated should depend on factors such as the child's risk factors and should be left to families, they said.</p>.<p>The United States is emerging from its latest coronavirus wave, driven by the Delta-variant. But cases remain high, particularly in colder northern states that are lagging in their vaccination rate.</p>.<p>Almost 58 percent of the total population is now fully vaccinated.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latetst videos:</strong></p>
<p>The United States on Friday authorized the Pfizer Covid vaccine for children aged five-to-11, paving the way for 28 million young Americans to soon get immunized.</p>.<p>The decision came after a high-level medical panel advising the government this week endorsed the shots, ruling that the known benefits outweighed the risks of side-effects.</p>.<p>"As a mother and a physician, I know that parents, caregivers, school staff, and children have been waiting for today's authorization," said acting Food and Drug Administration chief Janet Woodcock in a statement.</p>.<p><a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/tag/covid-19"><strong>SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE ONLY ON DH</strong></a></p>.<p>"Vaccinating younger children against Covid-19 will bring us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy."</p>.<p>The vaccine rollout should begin in earnest after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convenes a panel on Tuesday to further discuss clinical recommendations.</p>.<p>Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced this week the US government had bought 50 million more doses as it works to protect children, including eventually those under five.</p>.<p>In a clinical trial involving more than 2,000 participants was found to be more than 90 percent effective at preventing symptomatic disease.</p>.<p>The vaccine's safety was also studied in more than 3,000 children, and no serious side effects have been detected in the ongoing study.</p>.<p>In this age group, the vaccine is given as two shots three weeks apart, dosed at 10 micrograms -- a third what is given to older age groups.</p>.<p>Severe Covid is rarer in children than adults, but far from non-existent.</p>.<p>According to the CDC, there have been 8,300 Covid hospitalizations of children aged five-to-11 since the start of the pandemic, and 146 deaths.</p>.<p>There have also been more than 5,000 pediatric cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but highly serious post-viral complication, including 46 deaths.</p>.<p>Health authorities will continue to monitor for potentially highly rare side-effects, such as myocarditis and pericarditis (heart inflammation and inflammation around the heart).</p>.<p>The clinical trials were too small to detect these, but the hypothesis is they will be exceedingly rare, because the effect is thought linked to testosterone levels.</p>.<p>In male teens and young adults, the most affected group the effects occur mostly after the second dose of an mRNA vaccine at a rate of a few dozens per million. Most of the cases have fully resolved.</p>.<p>Covid itself can cause more severe forms of myocarditis, potentially more frequently, depending on the level of transmission within a community.</p>.<p>Beyond protecting childrens' own health, epidemiologists think vaccinating this group will help bring an end to disruptions to school and other activities.</p>.<p>But most of the panelists at a meeting of experts called by the FDA on Monday said they would not support mandates in this age group.</p>.<p>Instead, the decision whether to get vaccinated should depend on factors such as the child's risk factors and should be left to families, they said.</p>.<p>The United States is emerging from its latest coronavirus wave, driven by the Delta-variant. But cases remain high, particularly in colder northern states that are lagging in their vaccination rate.</p>.<p>Almost 58 percent of the total population is now fully vaccinated.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latetst videos:</strong></p>