Pfizer wants to vaccinate more and everywhere. The American laboratory announced Thursday that it had filed a file with the American Medicines Agency, the FDA, in order to obtain the green light for the injection of its vaccine in children from 5 to 11 years old. The group explained on Twitter that it had already made a request at the end of September for an authorization for emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine in this age group.
The FDA has warned that once Pfizer’s request is made, the process could still take “a few weeks” until the first shots can actually be taken. The agency said last week it had scheduled a meeting of its advisory committee to review the data on October 26. The latter will have to give his opinion before the authorization is then officially granted.
Many impatient parents
Pfizer / BioNTech has conducted clinical trials on more than 2,000 children aged 5 to 11. The companies indicated by presenting these results that the vaccine was well tolerated in these children, and elicited a “robust” immune response, “comparable” to that observed in 16 to 25 year olds. The dosage has been adjusted to 10 micrograms per injection, compared to 30 micrograms for the older groups.
Many parents have been eagerly awaiting vaccine clearance for their young children, especially since the start of the school year and the return of face-to-face classes. For the moment in the United States, the remedy of Pfizer is fully authorized for the 16 years and over, and authorized in urgency for the 12-15 years.