Spain receives first batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines for children under 12
Madrid, Dec 13 (EFE).- Over 1.3 million Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine doses for children arrived on Monday in Spain as the country prepares its vaccination campaign for children in the 5 to 11 age group starting December 15.
Children with high risk factors will be vaccinated first, followed by older children from 10 and 11 years old.
Similarly to the Pfizer vaccine for adults, under 12s will receive two doses but instead of 21 days between doses, children will have an eight week interval.
The vials for children have an orange cap to distinguish them from adult doses.
The pediatric formula is reduced to 10 micrograms, a third less than the adult formula, and does not require dilution.
After this first shipment, Spain expects to receive a second batch of some 2 million doses in January to reach a total of over 3.2 million doses.
The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccines for children in the 5 to 11 age group after medical trials showed an efficiency of 90.7% in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in children. EFE
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