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A28 U.S. NEWS
Diahuebs 1 aPRiL 2021

Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine protects younger teens

available for adults. That
process included holding a
public meeting of outside ex-
perts to review and vote on
the safety and effectiveness of
each shot.

The process for reviewing
data in children could be
shorter, given FDA’s famil-
iarity with each vaccine. An
agency spokeswoman said
the FDA had no informa-
tion to share on how the re-
view would work, including
whether additional public
meetings would be required.
Another question is when the
country would have enough
supply of shots — and people
to get them into adolescents'
arms — to let kids start get-
ting in line.
Supplies are set to steadily
increase over the spring and
summer, at the same time
states are opening vaccina-
tions to younger, healthier
adults who until now haven't
had a turn.

Children represent about
13% of COVID-19 cases
documented in the U.S. And
while children are far less
likely than adults to get se-
riously ill, at least 268 have
died from COVID-19 in the
( AP ) - Pfizer announced ing antibodies, somewhat that “we can’t afford to let statement. U.S. alone and more than
Wednesday that its CO- higher than were seen in our guard down.” 13,500 have been hospital-
VID-19 vaccine is safe and studies of young adults. Pfizer and its German part- AstraZeneca last month be- ized, according to a tally by
strongly protective in kids ner BioNTech in the coming gan a study of its vaccine the American Academy of
as young as 12, a step to- Kids had side effects similar weeks plan to ask the U.S. among 6- to 17-year-olds in Pediatrics. That’s more than
ward possibly beginning to young adults, the company Food and Drug Administra- Britain. Johnson & Johnson die from the flu in an aver-
shots in this age group said. The main side effects tion and European regulators is planning its own pediatric age year. Additionally, a small
before they head back to are pain, fever, chills and fa- to allow emergency use of studies. And in China, Sino- number have developed a
school in the fall. tigue, particularly after the the shots starting at age 12. vac recently announced it has serious inflammatory condi-
second dose. The study will “We share the urgency to ex- submitted preliminary data tion linked to the coronavi-
Most COVID-19 vaccines continue to track participants pand the use of our vaccine,” to Chinese regulators show- rus.
being rolled out worldwide for two years for more infor- Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla ing its vaccine is safe in chil-
are for adults, who are at mation about long-term pro- said in a statement. He ex- dren as young as 3. Caleb Chung, who turns 13
higher risk from the coro- tection and safety. pressed “the hope of starting later this week, agreed to vol-
navirus. Pfizer’s vaccine is to vaccinate this age group While most COVID-19 vac- unteer after his father, a Duke
authorized for ages 16 and Dr. Philip J. Landrigan of before the start of the next cines being used globally University pediatrician, pre-
older. But vaccinating chil- Boston College said the re- school year" in the United were first tested in tens of sented the option. He doesn't
dren of all ages will be critical sults are encouraging. States. thousands of adults, pedi- know if he received the vac-
to stopping the pandemic — atric studies won’t need to cine or a placebo.
and helping schools, at least “It’s hard to get kids to com- Pfizer isn’t the only company be nearly as large. Scientists
the upper grades, start to look ply with masking and dis- seeking to lower the age limit have safety information from “Usually I’m just at home
a little more normal after tancing, so something that for its vaccine. Results also those studies and from sub- doing online school and
months of disruption. gives them hard protection are expected by the middle of sequent vaccinations in mil- there’s not much I can really
and takes them out of the this year from a U.S. study of lions more adults. do to fight back against the
In the vaccine study of 2,260 mix of spreading the virus is Moderna’s vaccine in 12- to virus,” Caleb said in a recent
U.S. volunteers ages 12 to all for the good,” said Land- 17-year-olds. One key question is the dos- interview. The study “was re-
15, preliminary data showed rigan, who was not involved age: Pfizer gave the 12-and- ally somewhere that I could
there were no cases of COV- in the study. But in a sign that the findings older participants the same actually help out.”
ID-19 among fully vaccinat- were promising, the FDA dose adults receive, while
ed adolescents compared to It’s another positive develop- already allowed both com- testing different doses in His father, Dr. Richard
18 among those given dum- ment in the race against the panies to begin U.S. studies younger children. Chung, said he’s proud of his
my shots, Pfizer reported. virus even as U.S. cases, at in children 11 and young- son and all the other children
It's a small study, that hasn't 66,000 new infections a day, er, working their way to as It's not clear how quickly the volunteering for the needle
yet been published, so an- are rising again and deaths are young as 6-month-old. FDA would act on Pfizer's pricks, blood tests and other
other important piece of evi- averaging nearly 1,000 a day. request to allow vaccination tasks a study entails.
dence is how well the shots Centers for Disease Control “We are longing for a normal starting at age 12. The agency “We need kids to do these tri-
revved up the kids’ immune and Prevention director Dr. life. This is especially true has taken about three weeks als so that kids can get pro-
systems. Researchers report- Rochelle Walensky warned for our children,” BioNTech to review and authorize each tected. Adults can’t do that
ed high levels of virus-fight- Americans again Wednesday CEO Ugur Sahin said in a of the vaccines currently for them,” Chung said.