Coronavirus Vaccines Coming for 12–15 Year Olds… and the Shots Work!

If we lived in Canada, our daughter could have coronavirus vaccine by now:

Health Canada says the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is now safe to give to children ages 12 and up.

The federal health agency has announced it has approved administering the vaccine to children ages 12 to 15, after initially authorizing it for use in individuals 16 years of age and older.

“After completing a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, the department determined that this vaccine is safe and effective when used in this younger age group,” said Health Canada’s chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma.

Health Canada has authorized those 12 years of age and older to be given the same dose regimen as adults. The authorization was based on the results of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Phase 3 clinical trial involving 2,260 adolescents aged 12 to 15.

Conducted in the United States, the trial found the vaccine to be 100 per cent effective in children aged 12 to 15, up from the 95 per cent efficacy shown after the second shot in the trials with older age groups.

“While younger people are less likely to experience serious cases of COVID-19, having access to a safe and effective vaccine will help control the disease’s spread to their family and friends, some of whom may be at higher risk of complications. It will also support the return to a more normal life for our children who have had such a hard time over the past year,” Sharma said [Rachel Aiello, “Children 12 and Older Now Cleared to Receive Pfizer Vaccine: Health Canada,” CTV News, 2021.05.05].

But the United States Food and Drug Administration is working on approving coronavirus vaccine for younger people:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 12 to 15 years old, a decision that could come by some time early next week. The vaccine is currently authorized only for people age 16 and older.

A ruling should come “shortly,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told investors in a conference call Tuesday morning.

…News of the pending authorization comes as children now represent a rising proportion of new coronavirus cases in the U.S., where more than 100 million adults have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 [Bill Chappell, “Pfizer Says FDA Will Soon Authorize Covid-19 Vaccine for 12–15 Age Group,” NPR, 2021.05.04].

Brookings Epidemiologist Bonny Specker has a really good graph showing that in Brookings County, the older age groups that have gotten the coronavirus vaccine have seen a hard plateau in coronavirus infections, while the younger, less vaccinated groups continue to see their infection numbers climb. Dr. Specker explains:

…positive cases in the 70-79 and 80+ year age group have flattened over the last three to four months; both these age groups have vaccination rates greater than 80%.

• Increasing vaccination rates in the less than 60 year age groups will decrease the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
• Currently, all age groups less than 60 years have vaccination rates less than 70%.
• In the last four weeks there have been five deaths among South Dakotans younger than 60 years of age (including one in the 20-29 year age group for a total of eight) [Dr. Bonny Specker, “May 5, 2021 Covid Data Update & Rankings,” Bonny’s Blog, 2021.05.05].

For Pete’s sake, GET YOUR SHOTS!!! And in a week or two, GET YOUR KIDS SHOTS!!!