US FDA approves use of Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12 to 15
But there is still time before the vaccine can be provided to children aged over 12. After the FDA approval, an advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will review the data and make recommendations.
FollowThe United States Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-old children.
The authorization comes as a relief for those who had been expressing apprehensions about only adults being vaccinated in the household.
But there is still time before the vaccine can be provided to children aged over 12. After the FDA approval, an advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will review the data and make recommendations.
Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said, "Today's action allows for a younger population to be protected from Covid-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic. Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our Covid-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations."
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is administered as a series of two doses, three weeks apart -- the same dosage and dosing regimen for 16 years of age and older.
Are there any side effects?
The most commonly reported side effects in the adolescent clinical trial participants, which typically lasted 1-3 days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever and joint pain.
With the exception of pain at the injection site, more adolescents reported these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose.
The Pfizer vaccine should not be given to anyone with a known history of a severe allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis, to any component of the vaccine.
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