The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed broad use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children 5 to 11 years of age.

The announcement came hours after the advisers to the U.S. CDC backed the move and stated that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had given emergency authorization for use of the vaccine in kids aged between 5 and 11 years on Friday.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the risk from COVID-19 is too high and disastrous to the children and also much more than for several other diseases for which children are vaccinated. She added that pediatric hospitalizations had increased during the Delta variant-driven wave and school closures have had an adverse social and mental health impact on the kids. She stated that vaccination of children could help change all of that… (Reuters, November 3, 2021)