Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine likely to get authorisation for kids aged 5 to 12 by October

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is likely to get authorisation for use among children in the age group of 5 to 12 years by October 2021, as per former head of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Among the three COVID-19 vaccines currently administered in the US, only Pfizer has been granted emergency use authorisation for children 12 and above.

All three, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, have clinical trials in progress to understand safety and efficacy of their respective vaccines for children below the age of 12. Pfizer’s results are expected to arrive in the coming days in September.

Scott Gottlieb, former head of the FDA, said during an interview with CBS news yesterday, “Pfizer will be in a position to file data with the FDA at some point next month, and then submit its application to expand its emergency use authorisation for its vaccine in children 5 years and older as early as October.”

As per Gottlieb, FDA will be able to authorise Pfizer by late fall or early winter. He further stated that the decision is likely to be based on the COVID-19 situation in the country at that time and the urgency of vaccinating kids.

Pfizer is also conducting trials for children aged 2 and above and those results are expected to arrive in November. Vaccinating children has become increasingly important with the highly infectious Delta variant spreading fast and COVID-19 cases spiking again.

The former FDA head estimated that around 300 children are being admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 everyday. He noted that the rate of infection among children has shot up since schools reopened.

He advised schools to begin testing students twice every week as well as implementing geographical distancing to decrease on intermingling across student groups.