Vaccinating children aged under 5 years against covid-19

The United States has joined a handful of countries recommending that children aged 6 months to 5 years should receive covid-19 vaccines,12 but it is uncertain if other countries will follow. What is the evidence behind the US’s recommendation, and how does the case for vaccinating children under 5 years differ from offering covid-19 vaccines to older children?Two vaccines have been authorised for under 5s in the US, based on data supplied by manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna.34 Trials showed that vaccination induced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among children aged 6 months to 5 years, but it is not yet clear whether these antibodies will protect against covid-19 symptoms such as sore throat, fever, or cough, as there were very few cases of covid-19 in these trials. In the Pfizer trial for example, there were only three laboratory confirmed symptomatic cases among vaccinated children and seven in the non-vaccinated children.25 Most children…
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