Pfizer claims its Covid vaccine is 91% effective at preventing symptomatic infections in 5- to 11-year-olds, the AP reports, citing results of a study that could lead to jabs as soon as november.
Full-strength Pfizer shots already are authorized for anyone 12 or older, but pediatricians and many parents are anxiously awaiting protection for younger children to stem rising infections from the extra-contagious delta variant and help keep kids in school. More than 25,000 pediatricians and primary care providers already have signed up to get the shots into little arms. The Biden administration has purchased enough kid-size doses — in special orange-capped vials to distinguish them from adult vaccine — for the nation's roughly 28 million 5- to 11-year-olds. If the vaccine is cleared, millions of doses will be promptly shipped around the country, along with kid-size needles.
In-house studies are something you only hear about when they're good news for the drug, but in this case it's no surprise and there is, you might say, an unusual level of scrutiny.
