H0T: US Approves Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine For Teenagers | READ DETAILS
Faith Ukanwa
May 12, 2021
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on Monday. May 10, approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for teens aged 12 to 15.
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The FDA previously granted an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to individuals aged 16 and older.
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The FDA said some 1.5 million Covid-19 cases in individuals aged 11 to 17 years old have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between March 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021.
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The course of the disease is generally milder in children but they can pass it on to older, more vulnerable adults.
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Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said in March that their two-dose vaccine regimen was shown to be safe and highly effective in a trial of 2,260 12 to 15 year olds.
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Reacting, President Joe Biden said;
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"This is a promising development in our fight against the virus.
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"If you are a parent who wants to protect your child, or a teenager who is interested in getting vaccinated, today's decision is a step closer to that goal.ÔÇØ
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"Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,ÔÇØ said Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
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Biden has last week, stressed the importance of expanding vaccinations to 12 to 15 year olds and said the authorities were "ready to move immediatelyÔÇØ once the authorization came through.
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Some 20,000 pharmacies around the country were ready to begin to vaccinate adolescents, and doses will also be shipped to pediatricians, he said.
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Acting FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock described the approval as a "significant step in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.ÔÇØ
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"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,ÔÇØ Woodcock said in a statement.
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"Parents and guardians can be 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,ÔÇØ she added.
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AFP
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— Faith Ukanwa