Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for children?

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

Pfizer’s vaccine has been authorized by U.S. regulators for younger children, and millions of teens already safely received the shot. It’s the only one available for children in the country. More than 5 million children ages 5 to 11 have gotten a first dose since November and government safety monitoring hasn’t uncovered any surprise problems. This age group gets kid-size doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a third of the amount used to vaccinate everyone 12 or older. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the shots based on a study showing the kid-size doses were 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.