The EU's main COVID vaccine provider, BioNTech/Pfizer, will have jabs available for children in the bloc in two weeks' time, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.
She said she had spoken with the German-US joint venture about the issue the day before, and they said "they are able to accelerate -- in other words children's vaccines will be available as of December 13."
Thirteen million doses will be delivered to the European Union this month. From January, there will then be 20 million doses per month.
The Maltese health authorities have said they will start administering the jabs for Maltese children aged between five and 11 as soon as they are available through the EU procurement process.
The European Medical Agency recommended approval of the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech) for children on November 25. This vaccine is already approved for use in adults and children aged 12 and above.
Charmaine Gauci, the superintendent of public health, had told Times of Malta that the dose for children from five to 11 years of age will be one-third that used in people aged 12 and above and it will be produced in special packaging indicated for this age group. As in the older age group, this is given as two injections, three weeks apart.
A study in children aged five to 11 showed that the immune response to Comirnaty (the vaccine) given at a third of the adult dose in this age group was comparable to that seen with the higher dose in adults.
The most common side effects in children aged 5 to 11 are similar to those in people aged 12 and above. They include pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, redness and swelling at the site of injection, muscle pain and chills. These effects are usually mild or moderate and improve within a few days of vaccination.
Although COVID infection in children tends to be mild, there is high transmissibility of the virus among children. This is thought to be due to the fact that when a high percentage of the adult population is vaccinated the virus would tend to spread more in the unvaccinated pool of children. Although symptoms are usually mild in children, COVID infection in a child will lead to isolation of the child and family.