CARPHA advises against giving children small doses of adult Pfizer vaccine

The adult Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should not be given to children under the age of 12, even in small doses, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) warned on Thursday.

CARPHA Executive Director Dr Joy St John made clear that “errors in the administration of fractionated doses can make vaccination of children aged five to 11 years with adult vaccines a risky practice”.

Her warning was supported by similar advice from CARPHA’s Programme Manager of the Caribbean Regulatory System (CARPHA-CRS) Dr Rian Extavour, who said there is no information on testing of the phosphate-buffered saline formulation in the younger age group.

Also of great concern, she said, is the increased possibility of errors in administration when drawing up smaller volumes than 0.3mL, which is the adult dose, from the adult formulation.

Dr St John said the regional public health agency is awaiting the World Health Organisation (WHO) Emergency Use Listing before it recommends the use of the US Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine developed specifically for children five to 11 years of age.

“Unless otherwise specified, Member States should continue adherence to recommendations for approved vaccines. This will help to ensure favourable benefits to individuals and communities,” she reiterated.

CARPHA, however, urged Ministries of Health across the region to extend the rollout of their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, stressing that vaccine uptake is critical to achieving maximum protection from severe disease or death. (SD/CARPHA)