Fauci says FDA could authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5 in the next month

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old within the next month.

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Fauci, the White House COVID-19 advisor, said that while he could not guarantee the vaccine would be approved, he felt it was likely it would be.

“My hope is that it’s going to be within the next month or so and not much later than that, but I can’t guarantee that,” Fauci said during an interview with Blue Star Families.

Pfizer announced last month that it planned to submit data to the FDA in the first half of 2022 if the three-dose study of the vaccine on children younger than age 5 proves successful.

The study initially enrolled around 4,500 children ages 6 months to under 12 years of age in the United States, Finland, Poland and Spain from more than 90 clinical trial sites. The younger children, ages 6 months to 4 years, received three doses of 3 micrograms of the vaccine.

In comparison, adults receive two doses of 30 micrograms apiece as part of the primary series of two shots.

Physicians say they are seeing more younger children with COVID-19 infections as the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus continues to circulate.

Around 7.8 out of every 100,000 children ages 6 months to 4 years old were hospitalized with COVID-19 infections for the week ending Jan. 8, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitalizations in that age group have declined, with a high of 10.1 per 100,000 for the week ending Jan. 1.

More coronavirus pandemic coverage:

>> Coronavirus: How long between exposure to the virus and the start of symptoms?

>> What are your chances of coming into contact with someone who has COVID-19? This tool will tell you

>> How to not let coronavirus pandemic fatigue set in, battle back if it does


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