Pfizer Asks US FDA to Allow Vaccine for Kids Under 5

Pfizer has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5-years-old. The multinational pharmaceutical company might start vaccinating the youngest Americans as early as March. For its part, the Food and Drug Administration had asked Pfizer and partner BioNTech to apply earlier than they had planned. It has not yet been determined if two vaccination shots or three are needed for the children. No vaccinations have been made to date for the 19 million American children who are below 5 years old. A Pfizer vaccine for kids that age is now being developed.

Vaccine development in one year

Is a Pfizer vaccine for kids possible within the  year? SARS CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first identified in December 2019 and spread worldwide within a matter of months. Companies and nations hurriedly tried to stem the pandemic by searching for a vaccine to battle it. Pfizer was the first to receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on December 11, 2020.

Since then, other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have been able to develop vaccines against the coronavirus. Moderna, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson are among those entities. The number of casualties brought about by COVID-19 has been staggering. Numbers could have been considerably worse had no vaccine been developed.

Prior to this, the vaccine to battle mumps took four years to develop. The relatively short time it took to develop the COVID vaccine has led to some vaccine hesitancy in some individuals. That and all sorts of misinformation online have caused many to be dubious about getting their vaccine shots.

Vaccination for 5 to 11 year olds

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are the first mRNA vaccines that humans received outside of clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration meticulously reviews data from each clinical trial phase before granting approval or emergency use authorization.

That same agency only approved vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 years old in October 2021. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for children 5 through 11 was administered as a two-dose primary series, 3 weeks apart. It was a lower dose (10 micrograms) than that used for individuals 12 years old and older (30 micrograms).

Pfizer vaccine for kids under 5

Pfizer wants to vaccinate children as young as 6 months with shots that contain one-tenth of the dose given to adults. Data has already been submitted to the FDA and the process could be completed in just a few days.

For the Pfizer vaccine for kids, it has not yet been determined how many shots this age group will need. Early testing shows that two of the extra-low doses have been strong enough for babies but not for preschoolers. Pfizer is currently testing a third shot. Data might be released by March.

The same FDA asked Pfizer to begin submitting its application now because of the proliferation of the Omicron variant. Omicron has apparently had a greater toll on children with COVID-19 cases in children under 5 at its highest due to the variant.

Vaccination for children in the Philippines between 5 to 11 years of age was only approved in January 2022. Government officials are aiming to inoculate 14.7 million kids in this group with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the Department of Health’s Knowledge Management and Information Technology Unit, said it is very important for parents to tell their children why vaccination is important.

Key takeaways

When is a Pfizer vaccine for kids going to be available? Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 5 years old. The same company was the first to receive emergency use authorization by the FDA for its coronavirus vaccine. Vaccines usually take years to develop. However, the coronavirus vaccine was done in just one year. Vaccination for kids 5 to 11 years old only began in October 2021. Vaccination for kids aged 5 to 11 was just approved by the Philippine government in January 2022.

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