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When Pfizer Covid vaccine for children may be rolled out? White House adviser answers
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the application to decide whether there’s enough evidence to support the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.
After Pfizer Inc and BioNTech formally requested emergency use authorization for their Covid-19 vaccine in children aged five to 11, a White House adviser said that the new vaccine could be ready as early as November pending approval from regulatory agencies. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the application to decide whether there’s enough evidence to support the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.
White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients told CNN that the advisory panel of the FDA will debate the evidence at the end of October. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be rolled out for children after recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The United States is witnessing a worrying surge in infections among children as there was a 7% increase in the cumulated number of child Covid-19 cases between September 16-30 since the beginning of the pandemic. Pfizer’s Comirnaty has received emergency user authorisation from the FDA for its use in individuals 12 years of age and older to prevent Covid-19.
According to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, nearly 5.9 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 as of September 30. It further stated that the number of new Covid cases among children remains exceptionally high as more than 173,000 infections were reported in the last week of September.
“At this time, it appears that severe illness due to Covid-19 is uncommon among children. However, there is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects,” the Illinois based association said.
