The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this week recommended a third Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)-BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) COVID vaccine dose for young teens between the ages of 12- to 15-years-old to better protection them as they return to school as infections surge across the United States.
Additionally, the CDC now recommends that adolescents age 12 to 17-years-old should receive a booster shot 5 months after their initial two-dose series, bringing the guidance in-line with the agency's booster recommendations for adults.
"It is critical that we protect our children and teens from COVID-19 infections and the complications of severe disease," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a press statement on Wednesday. "This booster dose will provide optimized protection against COVID-19 and the Omicron variant."
The agency's independent vaccine advisory committee, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, voted in favor of lowering the eligibility age for Pfizer-BioNTech boosters to younger adolescents, following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) age expansion authorization on Monday. The CDC had previously greenlit third Pfizer-BioNTech doses for 16- to 17-year-olds back in December.
One concern raised by both the FDA and CDC was the prevalence of a rare, but serious heart inflammation condition, known as myocarditis, following a second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine amongst younger adolescents. The CDC's vaccine advisory committee found 265 cases total in Americans aged 12- to 15-years-old though Dec. 19. 2021, with the most cases (221) occuring after the second dose. Those cases of myocarditis resulted in 251 hospitalizations, but 96% of patients were discharged to recover from their condition with at-home treatment.
The CDC said the rate of myocarditis following COVID vaccines to be 45 cases per 1 million second doses administered for boys between the ages of 12 to 15, and 3.8 cases per million second doses for girls in the same age group.
While younger people usually are at less risk of severe COVID-19 infection compared to older populations, hospitalization of children in the U.S. are increasing since the emergence of the highly mutated Omicron variant.