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Study: Children experience higher omicron immunity after receiving Pfizer booster

COVID-19 Outbreak Kids Vaccine
Posted at 7:00 AM, Apr 14, 2022
and last updated 2022-04-14 08:00:32-04

Pfizer announced Thursday that a third shot of its COVID-19 vaccine raised omicron-fighting antibody by 36 times in children ages 5 to 11.

Pfizer/BioNTech plans to request emergency use authorization from the FDA for a booster vaccine for this age group in the coming days.

The study looked at 140 children between 5 and 11 years old.

The children were administered a 10-microgram dose of the booster shot six months after their second dose.

That’s a smaller dose than what is administered to adults, which is 30 micrograms.

Omicron-fighting antibodies increased 36-fold from the levels recorded after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Antibodies levels against the original coronavirus strain increased 6-fold with the booster shot.

Scientists outside of Pfizer/BioNTech have not yet reviewed the new data.

The CDC has said that the spread of the omicron variant has led to a record number of COVID-19 cases in children, compared to other variants.

However, fewer than one-third of children in this age group have received two full of a COVID vaccine, according to CDC data.

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