The Pfizer vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19. (File)
Ottawa:
Canada on Friday became the latest country to allow the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be given to children aged 5 to 11.
An official statement from Health Canada said: “After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, the department has determined that this vaccine is beneficial for children aged five to 11 years. age outweighs risk.
The decision is based on the companies’ application filed on October 18 after conducting clinical trials on thousands of children in this age group.
The vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective at preventing Covid-19 and no serious side effects were identified.
It is dosed at 10 micrograms instead of the 30 micrograms used in older adults, and is given as two injections, three weeks apart.
To date, several countries including Israel and the United States have given the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children.
China, the United Arab Emirates, Cambodia and Colombia have also started vaccinating children under 12, but with Chinese vaccines.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
