No qualifications. 2 dose series for all kids (10 micrograms vs the adult 30 micrograms dose).
It goes to Walensky who should greenlight vaccination for this group tonight or tomorrow.
This meeting was pretty straightforward compared to the VRBPAC meeting last week. All members were quite onboard with vaccinating this age group.
Roughly ~50% of parents expect to vaccinate their kids. Pediatricians greatly influence child vaccination interest.
Vaccinating this age group is expected to reduce community transmission by 8% over the next few months.
Here's a general overview.
745 kids have died of COVID this pandemic. 94 aged 5-11.
It is estimated 38% of kids 5-11 have been infected based on seroprevalence data. This is probably an underestimate. Kids 5-17 by far have the highest rates of infections. 65+ have the lowest.
The coronavirus is worse than the Flu for kids 5-11. More kids that are hospitalized for COVID are admitted to the ICU and need a ventilator.
Myocarditis after the Pfizer vaccine is very rare. Most cases resolve in a few months with good prognoses. It is generally milder than typical non-vaccine myocarditis cases. SARS-COV-2 infection causes myocarditis at higher rates than the vaccine for all age groups. It also tends to be a more severe form of myocarditis than vaccine-related myocarditis.
Most vaccine-related myocarditis occurs in older male teens and young adults and is believed to be connected to puberty. There is an expectation that myocarditis rates for 5-11 year olds will be lower than 12-17 year olds, but that data will become known in the post-marketing surveillance. There were no myocarditis cases in the trials for 5-11 year olds.
Bottom line is all kids should get vaccinated. This vaccine is safe and effective in this age group, and kids are experiencing a significant amount of infection.