Indonesia – The Covid-19 vaccine, produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, has been licenced by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in children under the age of five (toddlers).
The FDA petition was backed on Wednesday by detailed data showing that three low-dose vaccination injections produce a strong immunological response in children as young as six months old.
The Covid-19 vaccine is not available for children of this age in most countries.
Because vaccination demand for children aged 5 to 11 years old is still low, it’s unclear how many parents will vaccinate their children.
Pfizer and BioNTech revealed on May 23 that in previous trials, a 3 microgram dosage of the vaccine elicited the same immunological response in neonates under the age of 5 years as two 30 microgram doses in children aged 16-25 years.
In March, a competitor, Moderna, released trial results showing that its two-dose vaccination formulation was safe and elicited the same immunological response in young children as it did in adults.
The FDA’s independent counsel will meet on June 15 to review the papers submitted by the two companies.