Covid vaccine 5-11 years, what the experts say

Pfizer-BioNTech anti-covid vaccine “safe for children between 5 and 11 years of age”. This was announced by the two companies in a note. But what do the experts think? If the nfectivologist Galli says he is in favor, there are those – like Vaia and Salmaso – who believe it is better to wait for the opinion of the regulatory agencies. Read also Massimo Galli The data presented yesterday by Pfizer and BioNTech on the anti-Covid vaccine for the age group 5-11 “represent an experiment with important but not enormous numbers, but this basis allows us to be confident of the possibility of using the vaccine in 5-11 years old. I remember that the Delta variant affects this population a lot so I think it is appropriate to recommend it. Having this tool will allow us to reduce the spread and allow us to significantly limit the circulation of the virus since it is an unvaccinated piece of population ” . Massimo Galli, full professor of infectious diseases at the State University of Milan and head physician at the Sacco hospital in the Lombard capital, says this to Adnkronos Health. “In the current state of information and the general situation – added Galli – I would give an indication to do this vaccine also to my nephew, even if I don’t have one of that age, but I would do it with the grandchildren or children of friends and relatives “.Stefania SalnmasoFor the anti-Covid vaccine for under 12″ there are still not enough data, those of the pharmaceutical companies must be examined by the EMA, we still do not know this goodness of the results. Pharmaceutical companies announcements are for business ” . Thus Stefania Salmaso, epidemiologist of the Italian Association of Epidemiology (AIE). Francesco Vaia Invites to wait also Francesco Vaia, director of the Inmi Spallanzani of Rome, who to Adnkronos Salute says: “Not always what you read in the press releases of companies corresponds to severe studies shared by the scientific community. There are conflicting opinions on the anti-Covid vaccine for children. I would therefore avoid, in the absence of an authoritative opinion from national and international regulatory agencies and the CDC, to intervene immediately on a population group so sensitive “. Guido Silvestri “Pfizer is transmitting” the data on the efficacy and safety of its anti-Covid vaccine in children aged 5 to 11 “to Fda”, the US drug agency, “and we expect an authorization for emergency use within late October 2021 “, virologist Guido Silvestri, professor at Emory University in Atlanta wrote yesterday on Facebook, adding that the study, which involved over 2,200 children in the US, also includes” my son Nicholas, almost 11 years old “. “We recall – highlights the scientist – that the dosage of the vaccine is two doses of 10 micrograms (one third of the adult dose), made 3 weeks apart. The main results of the study indicate an efficacy in generating antibodies neutralizing the virus equal to that shown by the same vaccine in the older age group and the substantial absence of non-rare side effects “, because” the rare ones could not emerge in this type of clinical trial “. According to Silvestri, “this study is an essential step in the great march towards universal vaccination against Covid-19, which we believe is necessary both to further reduce the damage caused by this highly transmissible and clinically insidious virus, and to eliminate once and for all. any temptation to tackle this disease with ‘non-pharmacological’ interventions (the so-called closures) of modest efficacy and enormous side effects “. Antonella Viola” Good news on the vaccine front. The Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 could soon be approved for children aged 5 to 12. The trial ended successfully and all the material was sent to the Fda “, the American drug agency,” and hopefully soon also to Ema “for Europe. So “we hope that Fda and Ema find everything in order and that we can start soon”. This is the hope expressed by Antonella Viola, immunologist at the University of Padua, on Facebook. “The protocol – underlines the expert – provides for a lower dose, but the same cycle of 2 vaccinations. The clinical study also analyzed the youngest children, aged 6 months and up, but for the moment only the results are being examined. concerning the 5-12 year old group “. Roberto Burioni” Good news: Pfizer presented data on the vaccine in 5-12 year old children with a reduced dose “, and” efficacy and side effects seem to be comparable to what has been seen in adults ( good thing). Bad news: the data refer to a study of 2,200 children. Few “. Thus the virologist Roberto Burioni, professor at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan.