Pfizer is pushing towards vaccinating students in a bid to return to normalcy and save the upcoming academic year.
Pfizer and BioNTech submitted on Friday a request to the US’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the emergency use authorisation of their Covid-19 vaccine, enabling kids aged 12 to 15 to receive the injection.
Currently, the Covid-19 vaccine is only approved for people aged 16 and above.
The pharmaceutical company is seeking to provide students with the injection before the start of the 2021/2022 academic year. However, this is only possible following an FDA approval to administer the shots for the young age group.
BREAKING: Today, with @BioNTech_Group, we submitted a request to US FDA to expand emergency use of our COVID-19 vaccine to adolescents 12 to 15 years of age. pic.twitter.com/AHjc2khnUj
— Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) April 9, 2021
In a thread of tweets online, Pfizer revealed plans to send similar requests “to other regulatory authorities worldwide in the coming days.”
Previously, the company announced that clinical trials found no symptomatic infections among vaccinated children aged 12 to 15.
According to recent reports, the shot appeared to be extremely effective on kids, even more so than adults. Pfizer said children produced “strong antibodies” and experienced no serious side effects.
The recent findings could ease the return to normalcy for thousands of families in Qatar, especially as the National Vaccination Campaign expands.
Read also: Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine ‘100% effective’ in 12 to 15 year-olds
To date, clinical trials and studies are showing encouraging results that could allow middle school children to receive the vaccine before the start of Autumn semester, reports suggest.
In Qatar, health authorities are facing a drastic increase in Covid-19 cases that have triggered the country’s second wave and subsequent restrictions.
However, a nationwide vaccination campaign has expanded and accelerated.
Last week, Qatar surpassed the one millionth dose of the Covid-19 vaccines since the vaccination campaign kicked off in December.
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