2021

Health Canada approves Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5–11

 

November 19, 2021

Elementary school students will now be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in Canada. On Friday, Health Canada announced its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 (whereas previously only kids aged 12 and up were eligible).

Clinical trials showed that, beginning 1 week after the second dose, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (now known as Comirnaty) was approximately:

  • 95% effective in protecting trial participants from COVID-19 for those 16 years and older
  • 100% effective for those 12 to 15 years old
  • 7% effective for those 5 to 11 years old

This vaccine requires two doses—30 mcg each for people aged 12 and older and 10 mcg each for children 5 to 11, given 21 days apart, for maximum protection. According to Health Canada, the modified formulation of BNT162b2 to accommodate the 10 mcg dose for children offers “an improved stability profile” and is easier to use at administration sites.

“It uses a Tris-sucrose buffer instead of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and excludes sodium chloride and potassium chloride. The change in buffer is not considered clinically significant,” the department’s website notes.

To help ensure the correct dose is administered to younger children—vaccine vials with a purple cap will be used to prepare doses for individuals 12 years of age and older. Vials with orange caps and orange borders on the labels will be used for dosing in children aged 5 to 11 years have.

Social media reaction to the news has been mixed, although some parents are noting how excited their children are:

As of now, a booster dose of Comirnaty may be administered in individuals 18 years of age and older at least six months after completing their primary vaccine series (each province or territory decides when people receive their doses of the vaccine). In Ontario, booster doses are available to the following vulnerable populations, if at least six months have passed since their last dose:

  • Individuals aged 70 and over (born in 1951 or earlier);
  • Health care workers and designated essential caregivers in congregate settings (including long-term care home and retirement home staff and designated caregivers);
  • Individuals who received a complete series of a viral vector vaccine (two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine or one dose of the Janssen vaccine); and
  • First Nation, Inuit and Métis adults and their non-Indigenous household members.

Meanwhile, Ontario reported 793 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday—470 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 323 are in fully vaccinated individuals. According to Christine Elliott, Minister of Health, 269 people are hospitalized with COVID-19; 205 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, and 64 are fully vaccinated. A total of 128 people are in ICU due to COVID-19; 116 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 12 are fully vaccinated.

In Ontario, 22,776,096 vaccine doses have been administered. Nearly 88.9% of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 85.8% have two doses.

Click here for more COVID-19 Ontario news and here for where you could get rapid COVID-19 tests in Toronto (including a new drive-thru option).

~Nlorde.com

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