For kids aged 5-11 Canada approves 1st Covid booster

by Sara Floyd Hello

Recently, Canada’s drug regulator announced that it has authorized Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine for use as a booster dose in children aged 5 to 11 years. Dr. Theresa Tam Canada’s chief public health officer on Friday said that getting vaccines up-to-date ahead of the fall is a “top priority.”

To restore protection for this age group this booster dose provides a great option, especially for those who are at high risk of severe illness according to the report of Xinhua news agency Health Canada. Meanwhile on Friday the National Advisory Committee on Immunization released national guidance for its use.

After a thorough authorization for a booster shot was granted, an independent review of the vaccine, which “provides good protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death”, was written by the health ministry on Twitter.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam said in a news conference that in COVID-19 cases Canada is witnessing a decrease but in the months ahead citizens must prepare for the potential emergence of new variants of the virus.

Over more than two years of managing COVID-19 many of the good personal protective habits we have honed can also reduce your risk of getting infected and spreading other diseases, that include monkeypox and influenza” this has been said by Tam.

Apart from this, he also said that Canada has reported 1,168 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including 30 hospitalizations, by adding that there has been a slowing trend in the increase in new cases, this was reported by them in recent weeks.”

Tam said that over 99% of reported cases are male. Further, she added that among confirmed cases for whom additional data is available the majority reported intimate sexual contact with other men.

Moreover, due to Covid-19, NACI also recommended that children 5 to 11 years of age have an underlying medical condition that places them at high risk of severe illness including kids who are immunocompromised. After completion of a primary series this kid is offered a first booster dose of the 10 mcg vaccine at least six months.

In this age group for all other children, NACI recommended the 10 mcg Comirnaty vaccine may be offered as a first booster after completion of a primary serious at least six months in the context of heightened epidemiological risk.

NACI said that in this age group it reviewed the spread and severity of COVID-19, protection from vaccination and infection as well as clinical trial data, which showed that Pfizer’s booster dose was well tolerated in children aged 5 to 11 years, in making its recommendations.

He also said, within a few days side effects were typically mild or moderate and resolved themselves. “As part of preparing ourselves for the fall, getting vaccinations up to date is a top priority, with more people returning to in-person work and children going back to (school).”

NACI’s recommendations say a longer interval between doses after any subsequent dose which may result in a better response because it allows time for the immune response to mature in “breadth and strength.”

In the coming months the recommendations also say a bivalent vaccine will be available for use in adults, but “it is unclear if or when a paediatric bivalent vaccine would become available as trials are still underway.”

According to federal data as of July 17, Vaccine uptake in the five to 11 age group is much lower than in all older demographics, along with two doses, with about 42 percent of kids aged five to 11 vaccinated.

However, with fewer than one in five teens aged 12 to 17, booster uptake among teenagers is also quite low, receiving a booster eight months after NACI authorized them to get one. The latest wave of COVID-19 appears nationally to be either at or past its peak, with cases and hospitalizations declining in most regions.

Source:- https://blogspacecap.com/for-kids-aged-5-11-canada-approves-1st-covid-booster/