UK approves Covid vaccines for BABIES: Medical watchdog says lower-dose Pfizer jab is safe
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UK approves Covid vaccines for BABIES: Medical watchdog says lower-dose Pfizer jab is safe and effective for kids aged 6 months and above
- A low dose of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine has been approved for under-fives in the UK
- The medicines regulator said it meets safety, quality and effectiveness standards
- Vaccine advisers can now choose whether the jab should be dished out to babies
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Pfizer’s Covid vaccine had been authorised in the UK for infants aged six months to four-years-old, the medicines regulator confirmed today.
A low dose meets safety, quality and effectiveness standards and triggers no new safety worries in the cohort, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said.
Its decision opens the door for the country’s vaccine advisers to choose whether the jab should be given to under-fives as part of the country’s vaccination strategy.
However, it is not expected to do so over concerns that the benefits do not outweigh the risks. Children rarely get seriously ill with the coronavirus, and the majority are thought to have already been infected.
EU health chiefs today approved Covid vaccines for babies, in a move likely to spark controversy. The Bloc’s drug watchdog gave the green light for children older than six-months to get either Pfizer or Moderna’s jab
The MHRA made the decision after reviewing data from an ongoing clinical trial, which saw 4,526 infants given a small 3microgram dose of the vaccine.
For comparison, adults in Britain get a dose 10 times stronger. Older children, who are allowed to be vaccinated in the UK, get given a dose of up to 10micrograms.
Lower doses are given to children to avoid complications, such as myocarditis — the rare condition that spooked health chiefs early on in the pandemic.
The jab is given as three injections in the upper arm, with the first two doses given three weeks apart.
A third dose is administered at least two months after the second.
The MHRA said the jab triggered common side effects ‘in-keeping with what can be anticipated from a vaccine in this age group’.
The Commission on Human Medicines — a committee within the MHRA — endorsed approving the vaccine, after reviewing the evidence.
Scores of countries, including the US, China and Israel, already offer vaccines to kids under five, despite huge backlash over the moves.
US officials rolled out this version of Pfizer’s shot for the same age group earlier this year.
And EU regulators also endorsed the use of Covid vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna for under-fives.
Despite fears of winter chaos, infection rates are already beginning to slow down in EU nations.
Outbreaks appear to have stalled in Germany, France and Italy, but data is much less accurate because fewer tests are being carried out.
Cases are on the rise in Britain, latest data shows.