On Saturday, the American health authorities gave the green light to launch the anti-Covid vaccination for young children. All eyes are now on Europe.
More than 20 million children affected Last week, a team of scientists voted unanimously to implement an infant vaccination campaign. For this, the agreement of the authorities had to be given, it is now done.
Children aged 6 months to 5 years are therefore now allowed to receive Pfizer and Moderna injections in the United States. The doses are greatly reduced compared to the quantities administered to adults, going from 30 to 3mg for Pfizer and from 100 to 25mg for Moderna.
The Moderna vaccine will be administered in 2 doses, the Pfizer product in 3, spaced 3 and 8 weeks apart. This new decision extends vaccine eligibility to 20 million children across the country. Now all Americans 6 months of age or older are eligible for vaccination.
The United States becomes the first country to take such a step. “All children, including children who have already had COVID-19, should get vaccinated,” the CDC said. United States President Joe Biden welcomed the news, saying “a great relief for parents and families across America.” Already on Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American drug agency, had urgently validated this vaccination of toddlers. Now, with the agreement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccination can begin. The first doses should be given to infants as early as this week.
The American company Pfizer published a press release responding to this new announcement. She explains that she wants to extend this system to other countries in the world. “The companies plan to submit applications for authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine in this age group to other regulators around the world, including the European Medicines Agency in early July.” the Pfizer report.