Usa, green light for Pfizer vaccine for children.
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USA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years old
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November 14, 2021 After the United States, Israel today gave the green light to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11 with Pfizer / BioNtech doses in hopes of stemming the Covid-19 pandemic. "Most experts felt that the benefits of this vaccination for children would outweigh the risks, which led to the decision to authorize the vaccine for these ages," the health ministry explained in a statement. Authorities had launched a new campaign for the third dose in the summer and had also started vaccinating teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17.
The Jewish state was one of the first countries to launch an extensive vaccination campaign last December thanks to an agreement with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that gave it quick access to millions of doses in exchange for data sharing. The campaign led to the double vaccination of 5.7 million of the approximately nine million Israelis, of which more than 80% are adults.
Today, the authorities decided to lower the age for the vaccine to 5 years, in the wake of Pfizer's clinical studies, a campaign in this direction by the United States and the recommendations of a panel of Israeli scientists. According to clinical studies conducted by Pfizer on thousands of children, the vaccine has been shown to be 90.7% effective against symptomatic forms of the disease.
Among the expected benefits, in addition to preventing the disease, there is also a decrease in the number of class closures and a possible reduction in the transmission of the epidemic at a general level.
In the United States, injections of the vaccine to children aged 5 to 11 began on Tuesday.
China, the United Arab Emirates, Cambodia and Colombia have started vaccinating children under 12 but with Chinese vaccines.
The start date for vaccinations in Israel will be announced in the coming days, the health ministry said.