Drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday that three low-dose injections of their COVID-19 vaccine have shown to be effective in protecting children under age five. The companies made the announcement after carrying out new experiments, or trials, involving the youngest population group. They plan to provide information about the trials to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, as soon as this week. The estimated 18 million children under five are the only Americans who have not yet been approved to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech have said the amount of vaccine used in their shots for children under five is much less about one-tenth lower than the amount used in injections for adults. In earlier trials, researchers for the companies said two shots did not seem quite strong enough to effectively protect young children. So they decided to give a third shot to more than 1,600 individuals aged six months to four years. The new trial was carried out during last winter’s spread of the Omicron version of COVID-19. In a statement released Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech said the extra shot increased levels of virus-fighting antibodies in the youngest age group. The companies said the levels meet FDA requirements for emergency approval of the vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech said early data suggests the three-shot series is more than 80 percent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19
Which is a definition of the word symptomatic?
a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present
done or acting according to a fixed plan or system; methodical
working by itself with little or no direct human control
treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are
How many doses of the vaccine have shown to be effective in children under 5?
4
2
3
1
The estimated 18 million children under five are the only Americans who have not yet been approved to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
million
billion
thousand
hundred