Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for children? Yes, U.S. regulators authorized Pfizer’s vaccine for younger children after millions of 12- to 17-year-olds already safely got the shot, the only one available for children in the country. More than 5 million children ages 5 to 11 have gotten a first dose since early November, and government safety monitoring has not uncovered any surprise problems. Read:Omicron less likely to put you in the hospital, studies say This age group gets kid-size doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a third of the amount used to vaccinate everyone 12 or older. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the shots based on a study showing the kid-size doses were 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19. The 5- to 11-year-olds developed virus-fighting antibodies as strong as those of teens and young adults who got regular doses, with similar or fewer annoying reactions such as sore arms, fever or achiness. The FDA assessed the safety of the kid-size doses in 3,100 vaccinated youngsters. Regulators deemed that enough data, considering the trove of safety information from hundreds of millions of larger doses given to adults and teens worldwide. Very rarely, teens and young adults given the Pfizer vaccine or a similar one made by Moderna experience a serious side effect, heart inflammation, or what doctors call myocarditis. It’s mostly in young men or teen boys, and usually after the second dose. They tend to recover quickly, and after intense scrutiny U.S. health authorities concluded the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that small risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into a handful of reports of heart inflammation, mostly mild and brief, among 5- to 11-year-olds since vaccinations of that age group began. Read: U.S. announces first recorded Omicron-related death To put the risk in context, COVID-19 also causes heart inflammation, often a more severe kind, said Dr. Matthew Oster, a pediatric cardiologist at Emory University. It also sometimes occurs in children who get a multisystem inflammatory syndrome after a coronavirus infection. Before the pandemic, doctors regularly diagnosed heart inflammation caused by bacterial or viral infections or medications, again mostly in teen boys and young men. Oster said one theory is that testosterone and puberty play a role, which is partly why many experts expect any vaccine-related risk would be lower for younger kids getting a smaller dose.

Bangladesh on Monday started administering the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at three centers in Dhaka to fight off Covid-19. The vaccine is being administered first at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Sheikh Russel Gastro-liver Institute and Kurmitola General Hospital. Read: Bangladesh to start administering Pfizer vaccine doses Monday In each of these centres, 120 people will be vaccinated every day from 9 am to 3 pm. Faruk Ahmed, director of Sheikh Russel Gastro-liver Institute, inaugurated the vaccination drive around 10 am. “We’ve sent messages to 115 vaccine seekers, who had completed their registration with the hospital but failed to get the first jab. All of the 115 vaccine seekers will be given the shots, if they come,” said Faruk. Read: Bangladesh rolls out Sinopharm vaccine

Bangladesh’s health workers are gearing up to start administering the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in capital Dhaka on Monday as the Covid-19 situation keeps worsening in the country. Prof Shamsul Haque, Line Director of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and a member of the Vaccine Distribution Committee, disclosed it in a health briefing on Sunday. “We’ve already received 100,620 doses of vaccine from COVAX facility. We’ve preserved it. Necessary guidelines and training have been given. Hope, we’ll start the inoculation with it on Monday,” he said. Read:Bangladesh rolls out Sinopharm vaccine The vaccine will be administered first at three hospitals in Dhaka-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Sheikh Russel Gastro-liver Institute and Kurmitola General Hospital. Those who got registered earlier for vaccination will get priority, Prof Haque added. In each of these centres, 120 people will be vaccinated every day from 9 am to 3 pm. People getting vaccinated in the first run of Pfizer vaccine will be monitored for 7-10 days before the regular vaccination programme with Pfizer is launched, said Dr. Shamsul Haque. He also said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shots will arrive soon and those who could not get the second dose will get priority. Read:Pfizer, Sinopharm shots to start June 19: Health Minister

COVAX has been trending in stories about the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, particularly in relation to the shipment of vaccines to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the first to arrive in Africa.

Independent experts advising the World Health Organization on Wednesday recommended the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine even in countries that turned up worrying coronavirus variants in their populations.

Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot – not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.

COVAX, a global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level, has announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement with Pfizer for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has already received WHO emergency use listing.

US pharmaceutical company Pfizer confirmed Friday it will temporarily reduce deliveries to Europe of its COVID-19 vaccine while it upgrades production capacity to 2 billion doses per year.

The European Union’s medicines agency was meeting Wednesday to consider giving the green light to Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine, a decision that would give the 27-nation bloc a second vaccine to use in the desperate battle to tame the virus rampaging across the continent.

Britain on Wednesday authorised emergency use of a second COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first country to greenlight an easy-to-handle shot that its developers hope will become the “vaccine for the world.”