CDC gives final approval for Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for kids

UPDATE: U.S. health officials have given the final OK to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 5. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the go-ahead Tuesday evening.

The announcement came only hours after a CDC advisory panel unanimously decided Pfizer’s shots should be given to children ages 5 to 11.

Pfizer has already shipped millions of doses to states, doctors' offices and pharmacies. And pediatricians are getting ready to put shots into little arms. The special kid shots contain just a third of the dose given to teens and adults.

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ORIGINAL REPORT: WASHINGTON, DC -- An influential panel of vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Tuesday to recommend giving Pfizer's child-sized dose of coronavirus vaccine to children ages 5-11.

Members of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 14-0 to recommend the vaccine for the younger children.

If CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signs off on the vote, the U.S. will embark on a major expansion of vaccinations.

The CDC has said its analysis shows the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risks in this age group and she has signaled she will recommend it.

Pediatricians are getting ready to put kid-size doses into little arms as soon as they get the final OK. Pfizer already has begun shipping millions of doses to states, doctors’ offices and pharmacies.

The CDC says 745 children and teenagers under 18 have died of Covid-19. "The chance that a child will have severe Covid, require hospitalization or develop a long term complication like MIS-C remains low, but still the risk is too high and too devastating to our children, and far higher than for many other diseases for which we vaccinate children," Walensky said in opening remarks to the panel.

About 28 million kids would be newly eligible, and for some parents and pediatricians, a decision can't come soon enough. Children now make up a disproportionate number of new Covid-19 cases, according to a report published Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics -- accounting for a quarter of all the new cases last week.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer's vaccine for this younger age group last Friday, giving the company the distinction of having the first emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 shot for younger kids in the United States. The FDA said the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risk to children.

Pfizer says its clinical trial showed the vaccine provides 90.7% protection against symptomatic disease among this age group -- at one-third the dose of what people 12 years and older get. The company hopes the smaller dose will reduce any potential side effects.