Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccine Update:

Take Home Message:

A single booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine can be given to 5- to 11-year-olds to provide continued protection against COVID-19., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced.

The third shot can be given at least five months after healthy children complete the two-dose vaccine series, the FDA said.

COVID-19 tends to be less severe in children than adults, the omicron wave has seen more kids getting sick with the disease and being hospitalized, and children may also experience longer-term effects, even following initially mild disease,

Antibody responses were evaluated in 67 study participants who received a booster dose seven to nine months after completing the two-dose vaccine regimen. A month after the booster, their antibody levels were higher than before, according to the FDA.

Vaccination continues to be the most effective way to prevent COVID-19 and its severe consequences, and it is safe.

The safety of a single Pfizer booster dose was assessed in about 400 children, aged 5 to 11 years, who received it five to nine months after the two-dose series. The most commonly reported side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, as well as fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain, and chills and fever.

The COVID-19 Vaccine is effective in helping to prevent the most severe consequences of COVID-19 in individuals 5 years of age and older