Lawrence, KANSAS – FDA authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 to include children 5 through 11 years of age.
Health officials say that the authorization was based on the FDA’s thorough and transparent evaluation of the data that included input from independent advisory committee experts who overwhelmingly voted in favor of making the vaccine available to children in this age group.
The CDC is scheduled to consider the shots early next week.
The COVID-19 vaccines could be available to children as early as the first or second week in November.
Health officials say that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for children 5 through 11 years of age is administered as a two-dose primary series, 3 weeks apart.
They say that this vaccine is a lower dose (10 micrograms) than that used for individuals 12 years of age and older (30 micrograms).