Pfizer to seek permission in US to give Covid vaccines to under-12s in days
Vaccine giant Pfizer/BioNTech is set to ask for permission to vaccinate US children under 12 soon.
The firm said it would submit data on children aged five to 11 to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for consideration very shortly.
“It is a question of days, not weeks,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News on Sunday.
So far, the country has only approved vaccination against Covid 19 for children aged 12 and older.
Health experts are keen to vaccinate younger people as schools return and the colder weather means Covid cases are expected to rise.
What’s more, nearly 26 per cent of all coronavirus cases nationwide have been reported in children, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Pfizer has said trial results prove its coronavirus vaccine is safe and produces a robust immune response in children aged five to 11.
Sara Goza, a physician and former president of the American Academy of Paediatrics, said previously that it was crucial the FDA poured over the vaccine data as soon as it was submitted.
“We need to make sure that the studies are done and that the safety is checked. We want to make sure this vaccine is safe and effective in children,” she told The Financial Times.
“Children aren’t just little adults so, as we go into the younger ages [with vaccines], we are going to have to look at different doses . . . and so that’s what is probably taking a little bit longer to get the results.”
Results from trials in children under the age of five were expected later this year, Pfizer has said.
In the UK, 12-15 year olds have received their first Covid-19 jabs in schools over the past couple of weeks, after the vaccination programme was extended to them.