US to approve Pfizer vaccine for children next week

ANKARA – The US Food and Drug Administration will approve Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 next week, according to a report on Tuesday.

The FDA is currently reviewing scientific data provided by the US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer about the vaccine, and it is set to amend its emergency use authorization by early next week, a government official told CNN.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced on March 31 that its coronavirus vaccine BNT162b2 demonstrated 100 percent efficacy and robust antibody responses among 12 to 15 years of age in a Phase 3 trial that included 2,260 adolescents.

Another American pharma firm Moderna has also been testing vaccines in children as young as six months.

They are expected to ask the FDA for approval in infants and children later this year.

Almost 313 million doses have been distributed in the US, while 247 million have been administered as of Monday.

So far, 105.5 million people, or 31.8 percent of the population, have received two doses, according to figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More than 32 million cases have been recorded in the US since the start of the pandemic with more than 577,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Global cases are at 153.5 million, while more than 3.2 million have lost their lives. (Anadolu)