Pfizer vaccine campaign
Pfizer vaccine campaignFlash 90

Pfizer said on Friday that the COVID-19 vaccine it developed together with BioNTech showed 90.7% efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children 5 to 11 years old.

16 children in the trial who had received a placebo got COVID-19, compared with 3 who were vaccinated, Pfizer said in briefing documents submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration and quoted by Reuters.

Because more than twice as many children in the 2,268-participant trial were given the vaccine than placebo, that equates to better than 90% efficacy.

Pfizer's clinical trial in those 5 to 11 years old was not primarily designed to measure efficacy against the virus. Instead, it compared the amount of neutralizing antibodies induced by the vaccine in the children to the response of older recipients in their adult trial.

The 5-to-11-year-olds were given two shots of a 10-microgram dose of the vaccine, a third of the dose size given to people 12 and older.

Outside advisors to the FDA are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to vote on whether to recommend that the agency authorize the vaccine for that age group.

Earlier this week, the Biden administration unveiled its plan to vaccinate children between the ages of 5 and 11 against the coronavirus.

According to the plan, the vaccine doses will be specially prepared for children and be different from the doses that are given in the vaccines administered to adults.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)