Pfizer To Seek Emergency Use Authorization For Its COVID Vaccine For Kids Ages 2 To 11
BOSTON (CBS/CNN) - Pfizer expects to submit its COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization for children ages 2 to 11 years in September. The company made the announcement during its first-quarter earnings teleconference on Tuesday.
The pediatric safety and efficacy study in children age 6 months to 11 years old is ongoing.
"We expect to have definitive readouts and submit for an EUA for two cohorts, including children age 2-5 years of age and 5-11 years of age, in September," Pfizer CEO Alert Bourla said in prepared remarks.
The readout and submission for children 6 months to 2 years is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021, he said.
Bourla said the company expects to hear back shortly on its application for extended emergency use authorization for the vaccine to include 12- to 15-year-olds.
Dr. Rick Malley, a physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Boston Children's Hospital, said vaccinating this younger population will help everyone get closer to normal.
"Now that we have very strong preliminary evidence that these vaccines interrupt transmission, (it) will also I think help broadly to protect our communities from this terrible virus," he told WBZ-TV Wednesday.
"I think it's certainly a good step. It's going to allow a little more comfort in schools, for example. It's going to allow sports to resume with maybe a greater sense of normalcy."
Cambridge-based Moderna has also started a study of its coronavirus vaccine in children under the age of 12.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. CNN's Christina Maxouris, Ray Sanchez and Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report.)