Topline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 Wednesday to recommend adolescents age 12-15 receive a booster of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine with nine states reporting record numbers of kids hospitalized with the virus.
Jamie Blank (L) holds her son, Ari Blank's hand as he receives the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine ... [+]
Key Facts
If CDC Director Rochelle Walensky follows the panel’s non-binding recommendation, it would allow adolescents age 12-15 to receive a third shot of Pfizer’s vaccine at least five months after completing their primary series of shots.
The panel’s recommendation was informed by an Israeli Ministry of Health study that found that the risk of myocarditis, a heart inflammation, among adolescents was low, affecting only two participants in a study of 41,610 adolescents age 12-15 who received booster shots.
The study indicated that the primary series of vaccines wore off around six months after the final dose, but that a single booster reduced significantly infection vulnerability, Israeli Ministry of Health head of public services Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis told the panel.
Among adolescents age 12-15, the most common adverse reactions to Pfizer’s vaccine are dizziness, temporary loss of consciousness due to a drop in blood pressure, and headache, which are considered non-serious, said Dr. John R. Su, a member of the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Team.
The FDA authorized the use of a third dose of Pfizer’s vaccine for adolescents age 12-15 Monday, also reducing the interval for booster shot eligibility to five months from six.
Key Background
Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., have reported record-breaking levels of Covid-related pediatric hospitalizations, NBC reported. Meanwhile, vaccine uptake among teenagers has slowed, according to CDC data. Available data indicates that Covid poses a far greater risk to children than vaccine side effects such as myocarditis. A study of 1.14 million children aged 12-17 found that the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis was about 0.07 in 1 million for the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and about 70.8 in 1 million for the second dose, Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center researcher Dr. Nicola Klein told the panel. Risk of myocarditis appears to peak at age 16-17, said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research for the FDA.
Contra
Much of the available data was collected when delta was the dominant variant in the U.S., and may not be accurate for the omicron variant, CDC officials said.
Further Reading
“CDC Advisory Panel Considers Pfizer Covid-19 Boosters for 12- to 15-Year-Olds” (Wall Street Journal)
“Children are hospitalized with Covid at record numbers” (NBC)
