CDC Panel Recommends Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids 12 to 15

   Two days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded Pfizer’s emergency approval for use among kids as young as 12, a panel of experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to recommend the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged 12 to 15.

   Of the three vaccines that have been previously approved, only Pfizer included 12 to 15-year-olds in its clinical studies.

   The panel, which is called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), voted 14-0 to approve the vaccine for younger teens, and one committee member abstained from the vote.

   CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky now will consider the panel’s vote to give final approval for the use of the Pfizer vaccine for younger teens.

   To decide whether it recommended the two-dose vaccine, the panel weighed data from Pfizer-BioNTech’s clinical trials that included more than 20,000 participants, some 2,200 of which were aged 12 to 15. 

   For the pre-teen age group, the studies found that the Pfizer vaccine has a shocking rate of 100% efficacy of fighting infection with symptomatic lab-confirmed COVID-19.

   Some of the most common side effects to the vaccine in 12 to 15 year-olds were the same as for adults: injection site pain, fatigue, headaches, chills, joint pain, muscle pain, and fever. The data suggests the vaccine was well tolerated in this age group, Pfizer said.

   Gov. Cuomo said today in a press conference, that pending the approval of Dr. Walensky and the state’s Health Department, children in New York aged 12 to 15 could be getting vaccinated as early as tomorrow.

 (Photo by: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)