BERLIN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine offers a 73.2 percent protection rate for children aged six months to 4 years, according to a study released by the vaccine makers on Tuesday .
Three doses of three micrograms each provide infants with a “high level of protection, even as the Omicron BA.2 strain is prevalent,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech.
German vaccine developer BioNTech and its U.S. partner Pfizer have also developed a bivalent vaccine specifically tailored to current Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, for this age group, Sahin added.
On Monday, the two companies filed with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization for their vaccine for children 12 and older.
“Having rapidly expanded our production, we are in a position to immediately begin distributing booster doses of the bivalent vaccine targeting Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 strains if this vaccine is approved. This will better protect individuals and families as potential fall and winter peaks approach,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
The filing of an application by the two companies with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) should be finalized in the coming days. “Given the continued evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, it is of great importance that vaccines can be quickly adapted to the main Omicron lineages in circulation,” said Sahin.
Germany’s Standing Commission for Vaccination (STIKO) currently only recommends vaccination once morest COVID-19 for children over 5 years of age. In the 5-11 year age group, STIKO believes that healthy children should only receive one dose, while those at increased risk of severe illness or who have high-risk contacts should receive only one dose. receive two.
Of the 5.3 million children aged 5 to 11 in Germany, 22.6% have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of the 69.4 million adults aged 18 or over in the country, 85.3% are vaccinated once morest COVID-19, according to official figures. End
