Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday they will seek permission to deliver coronavirus booster shots to healthy elementary-age children down to the age of five.
The push comes on the back of a small-scale study delivering new data showing healthy five- to 11-year-olds could benefit from another kid-sized shot. The data has not been published or vetted by independent experts, AP reports.
“Pfizer and BioNTech plan to submit a request for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of a booster dose for children ages 5 through 11 in the U.S. in the coming days,” the companies said in a release.
U.S. health authorities already urge everyone 12 and older to get one booster dose to protect against the newest variants while the option of a second booster to those 50 and older has already been made available.
As Breitbart News reported, just last year the companies said they were preparing to request clearance to vaccinate children five and older as the company stood ready to begin making smaller doses for children younger than 12. Now that has come to fruition.
According to the AP report, the Pfizer shots are the only vaccine available to U.S. children. Those ages 5 to 11 receive one-third of the dose given to everyone 12 and older. Just over a quarter in the younger age group have gotten two doses since vaccination opened to them in November, shortly before omicron struck.
The U.S. hasn’t yet allowed vaccinations for children under five. But certain five- to 11-year-olds — those with severely weakened immune systems — already are supposed to get three doses, to give that high-risk group a better chance of responding.
Moderna meanwhile has released “positive interim data” from trials of just two doses of its vaccine in children as young as six months, with plans to seek the FDA’s authorization in the coming weeks.
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