美国疾病控制和预防中心在周三晚上为12至15岁的青少年推荐了辉瑞助推器，为周四早上第一批疫苗投入使用铺平了道路。
美国食品药品监督管理局周一批准了辉瑞助推器，为疾控中心的最终批准铺平了道路，疾控中心的专家小组在周三审查数据后投票推荐了这些助推器。几个小时后，疾控中心主任罗谢尔·瓦伦斯基最后签字。
因为疾控中心不要求接种疫苗并在接触后加强隔离的人，所以在冬季激增期间，12至15岁的人可以接种加强疫苗可能会对让孩子留在学校产生很大影响。
疾控中心国家免疫和呼吸系统疾病中心疫苗高级顾问阿曼达·科恩博士说，青少年疫苗的增强剂可能会“降低孩子呈阳性或被感染的可能性”，并可能“对这些孩子的健康产生不可估量的影响。”
“这是我们工具箱中的一个工具，”小组成员奥利弗·布鲁克斯博士说，他是瓦茨医疗保健公司的首席医疗官。“这是一把锤子，我们应该用力敲那个钉子。”
尽管如此，疾控中心专家小组周三强调，应在初始疫苗上投入更多努力，因为近三分之一的12至17岁儿童尚未接种第一针疫苗，这在学校传播中发挥了很大作用，随着奥米克隆击中未接种疫苗的儿童，儿科住院率也很高。
小组成员、范德比尔特大学医学教授海伦·凯普·塔尔伯特博士说，重点仍然应该是让那些未接种疫苗的孩子接种疫苗。
“助推器非常重要，但它们不会解决医院拥挤的问题。这是未接种疫苗的，”塔尔博特说。
根据美国疾病预防控制中心的数据，未接种疫苗的12至17岁青少年住院的风险比完全接种疫苗的青少年高11倍。
辉瑞疫苗是迄今为止唯一批准用于12至15岁年龄组的疫苗，于5月份获得批准，这意味着青少年在9个月前首次能够排队接种疫苗。
美国食品和药物管理局和美国疾病控制和预防中心已经建议在主要疫苗系列接种后五个月注射辉瑞强化疫苗。
疾控中心周三表示，12至15岁儿童的免疫力确实像老年人一样下降，这使得加强注射成为一个重要的工具，尽管12至15岁儿童的初始疫苗效力开始高于老年人。
增强剂还显示出增强了对omicron的保护作用，这种保护作用在前两种疫苗中被变异体的许多突变所回避。通过加强注射，研究表明保护率可以达到80%，任何突破性感染基本上都非常轻微。
CDC recommends Pfizer boosters for 12- to 15-year-olds; 1st shots as early as Thursday
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Pfizer boosters for adolescents ages 12 to 15 on Wednesday night, paving the way for the first shots to go into arms Thursday morning.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer boosters on Monday, paving the way for CDC's final green light, and a CDC panel of experts voted to recommend them after reviewing data on Wednesday. The final signoff from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came a few hours later.
Because the CDC doesn't require vaccinated and boosted people to quarantine after exposure, the availability of booster shots to 12- to 15-year-olds could have a big impact on keeping kids in school during the winter surge.
Boosters for young adolescents may "reduce the potential for a child to be positive or to be infected," said Dr. Amanda Cohn, senior adviser for vaccines at CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and could have "an immeasurable impact on the well being of these kids."
"This is one tool in our toolbox," said panel member Dr. Oliver Brooks, chief medical officer at Watts HealthCare Corporation. "It's a hammer, we should hit that nail hard."
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters, FILE
Brendan Lo, 13, receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at in New Hyd...
Still, the CDC panel on Wednesday emphasized that more effort should be put into initial vaccines, since nearly one-third of 12- to 17-year-olds have yet to receive their first shots -- which plays a large role in transmission in schools, as well as high rates of pediatric hospitalizations as omicron hits the unvaccinated.
The focus should still be aimed at getting those unvaccinated kids vaccinated, said Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, a panel member and medical professor at Vanderbilt University.
"Boosters are incredibly important but they're not going to solve this problem of the crowded hospitals. That's the unvaccinated," Talbot said.
According to the CDC, unvaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds had an 11 times higher risk of hospitalization than fully vaccinated adolescents.
The Pfizer vaccine, the only vaccine authorized so far for the 12- to 15-year-old age group, was authorized in May, meaning the adolescents were first able to line up for their shots nine months ago.
The FDA and CDC have recommended Pfizer booster shots be administered five months after the primary vaccine series.
The CDC said Wednesday that immunity for 12- to 15-year-olds does in fact wane like it does in older people, making booster shots a significant tool, though initial vaccine efficacy for 12-to 15-year-olds starts out higher than older adults.
Boosters have also shown to drive back up protection against omicron that was evaded in the first two vaccines by the variant's many mutations. With a booster shot, studies have shown protection can reach 80%, and any breakthrough infections are largely very mild.
