Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have asked U.S. regulators to authorize emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine for children age 5 to 11, a group for whom no shot is currently allowed, Pfizer said Thursday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a date of Oct. 26 for its panel of outside advisers to meet and discuss the application, making it possible for children in this age group — numbering around 28 million — to begin receiving the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shortly afterward.
"With new cases in children in the U.S. continuing to be at a high level, this submission is an important step in our ongoing effort against #COVID19," Pfizer wrote on Twitter.