FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for young teens

• Kids as young as 12 can start receiving Pfizer vaccine shots as early as this week.
• The Pfizer vaccine has received FDA authorization for use on kids aged 12 to 15, and is only waiting for CDC approval.
• The agency assured that the vaccine met “the regulatory criteria” to be authorized for young teens.

The Pfizer vaccine has received authorization from the US FDA for kids aged 12 to 15.

Young teens can start getting vaccinated as early as this week. An approval from the CDC vaccine advisory committee, expected on Wednesday, is still needed to proceed, however.

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock declared, “The FDA’s expansion of the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age is a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

Woodcock assured parents and guardians that all available data was thorougly and rigorously reviewed.

FDA’s plan to extend the vaccine availability to younger adolescents was announced last week.

The agency then confirmed on Monday that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine met “the regulatory criteria” to be authorized for kids as young as 12. They added that extending the age allowance “outweighs the known and potential risks.”

Peter Marks, head of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, explained, “Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

While children are known to exhibit milder COVID-19 symptoms than adults, around 1.5 million kids aged 11 to 17 still contracted the disease between March 1 last year and April 30 this year. 

Marks also assured the medical community, as well as the public, “that the available data meet our rigorous standards to support the emergency use of this vaccine in the adolescent population 12 years of age and older.”

The agency previously extended the vaccine approval to people aged 16 and older.

Still, critics pointed out that other parts of the world are still struggling to vaccinate the more vulnerable adult population, questioning the practicality of using the vaccines on a low-risk population.

Source: New York Post