Washington, Nov 4 (IANS): Healthcare providers in the US are gearing up for a fresh round of inoculation against Covid-19, this time featuring children between the ages of five to 11.

On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, the first that a jab has been greenlighted for kids in this age group, reports Xinhua news agency.

The decision was in line with that of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which on October 29 authorized emergency use of the paediatric dose for the roughly 28 million children in that age group.

The vaccine for young children is one-third the adult dose and would be given in two doses, three weeks apart.

The lower dose was chosen to minimize side effects and still produce strong immunity, according to Pfizer.

A total of 172 children aged 5-11 have died from Covid-19 in the US and more than 8,300 have been hospitalised, said the CDC data.

On Wednesday, the CDC updated that 221,961,370 people have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, making up 66.9 per cent of the whole US population; while fully vaccinated people stood at 192,726,406, accounting for 58.1 per cent of the total.

A total of 19,783,921 people, or 10.3 per cent of fully vaccinated group, have received booster shots.