Information about the Pfizer Vaccine

Your child is being offered a COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech. The Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people over 16 years old, with the brand name Comirnaty. The FDA has also issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for people ages 5 and older. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and Comirnaty are administered as a 2-dose series, 3 weeks apart, into the muscle.

The vaccine provider will need certain information about your child’s medical history before administering the vaccine. Those questions are available here www.mass.gov/CDCScreeningForm

The vaccine may not protect everyone from COVID-19 disease. Some people may experience side effects after getting the vaccine. Side effects that have been reported include injection site pain, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, fever, injection site swelling, injection site redness, nausea, feeling unwell, and swollen lymph nodes. There is a remote chance that the vaccine could cause a severe allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction would usually occur within a few minutes to one hour after getting a dose of the vaccine. For this reason, a vaccination provider may ask the person receiving the vaccine to stay at the place where they received their vaccine for monitoring after vaccination. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include difficulty breathing, swelling of the face and throat, a fast heartbeat, and/or a bad rash all over the body.

Additional information is available in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine “Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers” available at:

Recipients and Caregivers 5-11 years of age (fda.gov)

Recipients and Caregivers 12 years of age and older (fda.gov)