CDC advisory group votes to recommend Pfizer kids vaccine

An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend Pfizer-BioNTech’s lower-dose Covid vaccine to children 5 to 11.

That recommendation now goes to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Once she signs off, more than 28 million children can start receiving their vaccines.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been more than 1.9 million Covid cases, more than 8,300 hospitalizations and 94 deaths due to Covid among children ages 5 to 11 in the United States, Dr. Jefferson Jones, a medical officer with the CDC, said Tuesday.

CDC models project that vaccinating children ages 5 to 11 could help accelerate the decline in cases currently seen in the U.S., Oliver said.