While the debate continues to rage in the United States over getting children vaccinated, one COVID-19 vaccine developer has submitted a request to authorize its use for children as young as 5, adding further discussions to safety and efficacy.
According to Newsweek, an unnamed Food and Drug Administration official confirmed that Pfizer "has submitted a request to FDA to amend its emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in children 5 through 11 years of age."
The official added that the FDA "will hold a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Oct. 26 to solicit input from its independent scientific and public health experts on the data and information in the request."
The officials also added that the decision could be reached by the end of the month, pending expert assessment.
"While the FDA cannot predict how long its evaluation of the data and information will take," the official stated, "the agency will review the EUA request as expeditiously as possible using its thorough and science-based approach, and expects this evaluation to take a matter of weeks as opposed to months."
But in Cuba, a campaign started last month to vaccinate the nation of 11.3 million people, including children as young as 2. So far, more people seem to be getting inoculated there, with efforts to include younger children.
As Carlos Fernández de CossÃo, director of the general division for the United States at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicated, "our vaccination program is being implemented from the age of two and we are already testing on those below two years old."
Fernández de CossÃo said that the country aims to add a COVID-19 vaccine to the standard list of vaccines offered to infants.
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