Pfizer applies for COVID-19 vaccine approval for children under 5
US pharmaceutical company Pfizer says it has begun filing for emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine in children under five.
Pfizer said on Tuesday that it is submitting data to the US Food and Drug Administration from clinical trials to evaluate the shots’ safety and effectiveness on children from six months to four years old.
The company’s vaccine is currently being administered in the United States to children aged five and older.
Pfizer seeks approval for giving two shots that contain one-tenth of the dose for adults to children under five years old.
The firm said in December that the immune response generated one month after the second shot in children two to four years old was inferior to the response in adults.
The company says it will apply for the authorization of a third dose after evaluating data on its effectiveness.
In the US, the spread of the Omicron variant has led to record high hospitalization rates of children aged four years old and younger.