The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly approved booster shots for children aged between 5 and 11 years against COVID-19 to help prevent further infections. The directive will allow this age group to get a third shot around five months after their last dose.

The next step is for the Centers for Cancer Disease and Prevention (CDC) to officially recommend the third dose for the kids for which the scientific advisers will meet on Thursday, 19th of May. Notably, Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is already available in the U.S. for children aged between 5 to 11.

The controversy surrounding the use of booster shots for elementary school children has been overshadowed by the demands of parents of kids under the age group of 5 to get a booster dose. At present, children under the age of 5 are eligible for vaccination and the FDA is expected to review additional data from top pharma companies – Pfizer and Moderna, that are testing the shots next month.

The vaccine was made available to kids in the 5 – 11 age brackets in November, but only around 30% have received the first two doses. However, the Pfizer vaccine has been quite effective in preventing severe COVID-19 infections and protects kids & adults from the disease.

While COVID-19 is more dangerous to adults than kids, it can still cause severe illnesses in children. As per CDC’s count, nearly 350 children have succumbed to the virus. Moreover, the COVID-19 infection count grew as Omicron started to spread rapidly across the United States.

It is worth noting that the U.S. is now registering a daily average of 91,000 cases since the Omicron outbreak, which is a sharp increase from 57,000 cases two weeks ago. Interestingly, experts suggest that the actual number of infections is much higher as the testing has dropped significantly while at-home tests are not yet being reported.

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https://www.fox5vegas.com/2022/05/17/fda-approves-covid-booster-children-ages-5-11/