BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL AND PETER SULLIVAN – 10/29/21 03:24 PM EDT
COVID-19 vaccines for younger children are one step closer to becoming available after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday authorized Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11.
Extending vaccine eligibility to children younger than 12 has been a major goal of public health officials and has been eagerly awaited by many pediatricians and families.
The FDA has been under pressure for months to move quickly to authorize vaccines for younger children, one of the final barriers to overcome in the country’s historic vaccination campaign.
Pfizer’s vaccine is already authorized for those age 12 and older, but many parents have been waiting anxiously for the ability to protect younger children, especially as the delta variant has proved far more contagious and dangerous for them.
“As a mother and a physician, I know that parents, caregivers, school staff, and children have been waiting for today’s authorization. Vaccinating younger children against COVID-19 will bring us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
The Biden administration says it has purchased enough vaccine to inoculate all 28 million 5- to 11-year-olds in the U.S., and will distribute it through a network that will rely on more than 25,000 pediatrician’s offices, as well as community health centers, schools and pharmacies.
Read the full report from THE HILL here.