US health agency CDC: Children five and older are vaccinated

In the United States, children between the ages of five and eleven can now be vaccinated. The CDC, the supreme health authority, had approved. US President Biden spoke of a “turning point” in the fight against Corona.

Corona vaccinations for children between the ages of five and eleven have started in the USA: The CDC health authority has approved vaccinations for this age group with the vaccine from BioNTech / Pfizer, as announced by CDC director Rochelle Walensky.

The first children have already been vaccinated. According to the government, the vaccination campaign should start in the coming week.

An advisory committee had previously unanimously decided that the age group should be able to get vaccinations against the coronavirus, paving the way for the CDC’s decision. The US drug agency FDA has already approved the vaccinations.

Children get a lower dose

The corresponding doses contain only a third of the amount that is administered to adults and children over twelve. The young children should receive the vaccine in two doses that are injected three weeks apart.

In preparation for the CDC’s decision, millions of vaccine doses have already been sent to US states, medical practices and pharmacies. The US government has already ordered an additional 50 million vaccine doses for children from BioNTech and Pfizer.

US President Joe Biden described the approval as a “turning point”. “Vaccinating younger children means” the end of months of worrying about their children for many parents, “Biden said. At the same time, it will reduce the spread of the coronavirus from children in other age groups.” It is an important step forward for our nation in ours Fight to defeat the virus, the US president continued.

94 child deaths

In the United States, more than 8,300 children between the ages of five and eleven have been hospitalized with the coronavirus, around a third of whom had to be treated in intensive care, according to government data.

The CDC recorded at least 94 child deaths of that age. In a Pfizer study with 2,268 children, it was found that vaccination with the children’s dose is almost 91 percent effective against a Covid 19 disease with symptoms.

So far, only a handful of countries, including China, Chile, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates, are administering corona vaccines to younger children.