The companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced this week that their anti-COVID vaccine is 80% effective after three doses in babies from six months to five years old after a study of 1,680 children from four countries. Experts speak out.
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WHY A VACCINE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AND WHY NOW?
There are 421,000 children under the age of five in Quebec and they have so far escaped vaccination campaigns to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Pharmaceutical companies had been conducting studies for several months at two doses of a 3 microgram injection (10 times less than the adult dose) in this population and last February submitted an application for approval to the responsible American agency, the FDA. The latter found the success insufficient and asked to do new tests with three doses. The results released this week are encouraging enough to warrant a new application, but the US drug agency has yet to approve it. Other countries should follow soon.
WHEN IS A VACCINE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN IN CANADA?
Health Canada confirms that the vaccine for children under five has not been submitted for vaccine approval as in the United States. “Drugs related to COVID-19 benefit from special treatment and delays are reduced. I believe that we could have a vaccine for children aged six months to two years in the fall of 2022, ”says Benoit –Barbeau, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal and expert in virology.
WHAT WILL CHANGE?
Due to the effectiveness of their immune system, young children are generally not very affected by viral infection. The clinical complications observed are due to immune disorders or comorbidities, points out Benoit Barbeau. Moreover, for reasons that are not fully explained, it seems that young children are not very responsible for the transmission of the virus. Despite everything, the expert believes that we should not do without a preventive tool like the vaccine. “We are at the end of the sixth wave of COVID-19 and if the pandemic experiences a new revival, we must put all the chances on our side to stop it. »