Pfizer-BioNTech could seek emergency authorisation for use of its Covid-19 vaccine in children aged between 5 and 11 by early October.
This will be followed by those as young as six months in November.
The company is conducting phase 3 studies of its vaccine on children aged between six months and 11 years.
Speaking at an industry conference this week, a Pfizer executive said it expects to have safety and immunogenicity data for children aged 5 to11 available in around two weeks, at the end of September.
Data for the youngest age group, six months to 5 years, will be available around a month later, at the end of October.
The company will then have to file an application for emergency use for both groups if the vaccine proves safe and effective.
That could come for children aged 5 to 11 in early October, “assuming the data is positive,” said Pfizer’s chief financial officer Frank D'Amelio at the Morgan Stanley 19th Annual Health Conference.
The emergency authorisation application for the youngest age group, 6 months to 5 years, could follow "in a month shortly thereafter", if again the data is positive, he said.
Once the applications are filed, the US Food and Drug Administration will need time to review the data.
Former FDA Commissioner and Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb said that could take four to six weeks.
The vaccine has been available to older children, aged 12 and above, in the UAE since mid-May.
The vast majority suffer only mild symptoms, or none at all.
However, they can and do catch the virus and transmit it, and a small number become very sick or die as a result.
A recent study reported in the journal Pediatrics showed Covid-19 led to more symptoms and complications than the flu in children, with underlying health conditions such as asthma and obesity presenting bigger risks.
According to the research, pneumonia and hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen, occurred more frequently in Covid-19 than seasonal flu.
Childhood admissions to hospitals in the US have been rising in recent weeks due to the highly contagious delta variant.
“We have a lot of children in hospitals now,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, at a lecture hosted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine earlier this month.
“So even though, relatively speaking, compared to an adult they don’t get as seriously ill, we have lost more children from Sars-CoV-2 than we ever lose for influenza — and we vaccinate children against influenza.”
Children can also suffer from "long Covid".
According to the British Medical Journal, a recent large study conducted in the UK found as many as one in seven children, 14 per cent, may still have symptoms 15 weeks later.
Headache, fatigue and shortness of breath are the most common lingering symptoms, according to the research by the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.
“We don’t know what the effects are going to be on anyone, including children,” said Dr Fauci.
“So it may be that much to our dismay that children who get infected have long-term consequences that we don’t fully appreciate right now.
“For those reasons, one of transmissibility, one of the seriousness of the disease and one of uncertainty about long-range consequences, I come down strongly on ultimately vaccinating our children.”
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000
The five pillars of Islam
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
- One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
- One for Eastern Europe Group
Countries so far running:
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
India cancels school-leaving examinations
