According to sources, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could be accessible for children under the age of five, by the end of the coming month.
A person who is familiar with the situation verified to The Associated Press that an emergency use authorization request will be made to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as early as Tuesday.
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Upon approval, the vaccine will be available for children aged between six months and five years, by late February.
Pfizer previously admitted that the two-cure shot was less effective in treating COVID-19 in children, and regulators encouraged the company to include a third dose in the study.
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Still, the FDA has prompted the pharmaceutical company and its partner, BioNTech, to submit their operation grounded in the two-dose data while still assessing the efficacity of the third shot for later, according to the Associated Press.
Because of the two-step licencing process, children could be immunised a month earlier than previously estimated.
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“The plan is to go ahead and start the review of two doses,” one insider told The Washington Post, which broke the news first. Still, you may put kids on their primary baseline months sooner than if you stay until the third-cure data comes in,” the person added, “If the data in the submission hold up.
According to The Washington Post, Pfizer previously delivered revised trial data on the shots to civil health experts, including Dr Anthony Fauci, on Friday.
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“There is a lot of interest in seeing this move forward,” a Biden administration functionary told The Washington Post, adding, “You have to get two shots first to get to three.” While not as effective in older children, the process is designed to be safe and to activate an immune response, according to primary data.
Given the finding of the largely transmittable Omicron strain, the AP source argued that the vaccine’s decreased efficiency was unsurprising.
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Even though children are substantially less likely than adults to develop serious symptoms or die from COVID-19, there is still concern regarding the liability of children receiving the immunizations. Infections and mortality among the elderly, particularly those who are unvaccinated, are rising.
Nonetheless, the Biden administration believes that vaccinations are necessary to keep seminaries and daycare centres open and to allow parents who are burdened with childcare liabilities to return to work.