CDC recommends Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster for kids 5-11

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11.

The decision came hours after its independent vaccine advisory panel voted 11-1, with one abstention, to recommend the booster dose.

On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded Pfizer-BioNTech’s emergency use authorization for its pediatric product to include a booster shot at least five months after a patient’s second dose is administered.

“The pros of a booster dose in this age group are strong and the benefits we've seen from many outcomes,” said Katherine Poehling, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and prevention at Wake Forest School of Medicine, who voted in favor of the recommendation.

The committee found that the vaccine has largely been safe for that population of children, with incidents of myocarditis and other rare adverse events lower compared to older kids.

Booster trial data presented by Pfizer showed that reactions to the third dose were mild to moderate and short-lived, with no new safety concerns identified among the 401 participants.

Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, was the only member of the committee to vote against the recommendation.

“I have a feeling that … for the next years to come, we will need to vaccinate people in the fall,” she said. “So I’m a little hesitant now in May to say [that] in June we should start to give all 5- to 11-year-olds boosters,” and then ask them to get another in fall.

Even if three doses benefit children, she said, so many of them have been exposed to the Omicron variant that they might have a sufficient level of protection from the virus already.

Nearly 29 percent of children ages 5-11 have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Some members of the advisory panel suggested the low rate is a sign that the committee must communicate urgency by recommending the booster for all children, rather than saying they “may” receive it. The panel has debated recommendation language that would allow different age groups to access booster doses without strongly urging their administration.

“I am very concerned that, with our already low rates, people will hear the word ‘m-a-y’ as ‘meh,’” said Patricia Stinchfield, a nonvoting liaison representative from the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, who participated in the meeting.