The U.S Food and Drug Administration is likely to approve Pfizer booster vaccinations for adolescents in the country between the ages of 12 and 15 on Monday.
These changes will be presented in next week's advisory committee meeting taking place by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where they will vote on whether or not recommend these COVID-related advancements. If the advisory committee comes to an agreement regarding these authorizations, the head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, is expected to endorse the new accommodations.
Additionally, children with immunity deficiencies between the ages of 5 and 11 will also be approved for booster shots in the near future.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported concerning numbers among children vaccinations throughout the country.
According to a CDC study that measured over 700 children under the age of 18 hospitalized due to COVID this past summer, almost one-third of them were so ill that they had to be transferred to intensive care units. In addition, nearly 15 percent of those children needed mechanical ventilators while hospitalized, with 1.5 percent of those children losing their young life.
“This study demonstrates that unvaccinated children hospitalized for Covid-19 could experience severe disease and reinforces the importance of vaccination of all eligible children to provide individual protection and to protect those who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated,” said the CDC study.
All new vaccine changes are being suggested in the wake of the new Omicron variant storming the country, and the recent prodigious wave of COVID cases with holiday gatherings taking place since the start of the holiday season.
It has also been reported that officials will soon start allowing adolescents and adult vaccine recipients to get an additional Pfizer vaccine shot five months after their second dose, replacing the current six-month window that has been suggested by health officials.
