A panel of experts from the US Food and Drug Administration - the FDA, is meeting this evening (Tuesday) to discuss the question of administering Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine to children aged 5 to 11. According to estimates, the panel of experts is expected to recommend emergency approval for the vaccines.
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Dr. Sharon Al-Rai-Price, head of public health services at the Ministry of Health, said this evening on Channel 13: "In the State of Israel, there will also be an approval process. We are not copying the United States. We will look at the data, bring it to the Vaccine Advisory Committee, to the Epidemic Management Team - and this time, unlike previous times, in light of the request and in light of the significance of this vaccine, we will make the process more transparent with public participation.".
Al-Rai-Price added: "The risk to children is from the disease itself, from the symptoms in the short time after the disease and from possible long-term symptoms. In truly healthy children, the disease passes mildly, even asymptomatically, but then the element of PIMS enters, the multisystem inflammation that can occur 4-6 weeks later, and there it is already significant morbidity, 60-70 percent of the children end up in intensive care.".
She emphasized: "There is no vaccine in the world whose side effects have been observed after decades, only in the month after the vaccine. In diseases, side effects have been observed after decades.".
According to a report on Channel 13, if the FDA decides to recommend giving the vaccine to children tonight, a discussion is expected to take place tomorrow in the Ministry of Health's vaccination committee, and next Thursday a public discussion will be held that will be broadcast to the public, and a lottery will be held prior to it, in which citizens will be selected who will be able to come and speak before the committee.
Last weekend, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that in a trial it conducted with a coronavirus vaccine, it was found to be 90.71% effective against the virus in children ages 5 to 11. The trial was not designed to test the effectiveness of the vaccine, as in adults, but rather the amount of antibodies the body produces following the vaccine.
Based on this, Pfizer announced last month that the vaccine boosts the body's immune response and provides protection against the virus. The children received a third of the amount of vaccine given to those 12 years old and older.
Meanwhile, Israel has signed an agreement with the American company Merck to purchase the drug the company developed for the coronavirus. The drug is expected to be delivered in early 2022 and the cost of treating a patient with the drug is approximately $700.
