Your questions, answered With the booster now authorized for 5-11 year-olds, is the recommendation for older 11-year-olds to get the booster now or to wait a month or two and get the adult dose once they turn 12? Which is more important: getting any booster dose sooner or getting the larger dose? – Dave G., Md. There isn't a simple answer to this one. First, a bit of background: the pediatric studies used lower doses in younger children because of differences in how their immune systems respond to vaccines. Children 12 and older got the same dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as adults, 30 micrograms per shot. But children 5 to 11 years old got a third of the dose, 10 micrograms per shot. These age cutoffs don't mean there's an immunological turning point that takes place on a child's 12th birthday. And there has been some debate among experts about whether the dose given to 5- to 11-year-olds may be too low. Megan Freeman, an infectious disease pediatrician at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said that the recommendation is for children to get the booster when they are eligible – five months after they're fully vaccinated. But, like so much about the pandemic, there's room for judgment. "If my 11 year old was due for a booster, I'd take into account the degree of COVID in my community to make the decision. If not much was circulating, I'd likely wait to get them the 12 year old dose," Freeman said. "If a lot was circulating or we had something high risk planned (like travel or a large event), I might elect to get the lower dose sooner." C. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said that if a child is within a week of their 12th birthday, it is reasonable to wait, but not critical. If it's a two or three month wait, he suggested getting the lower-dose booster now. "One caveat is that those with recent history of illness (in the last 3 months) would likely be best served waiting – not for the higher dose, but because illness also serves to boost and it is reasonable to wait at least 3 months after illness to be vaccinated," Creech said. |
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