WASHINGTON: US health authorities on Monday approved Pfizer's COVID-19 booster shot for children as young as 12, and reduced the wait time between initial vaccination and an extra dose from six months to five, for all ages.
The FDA also approved a booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for immunocompromised children between the ages of five and 11, including for example individuals who have received an organ transplant. In addition, with more than 4.1 million people 16 and older in Israel having received a booster starting five months after the initial two-dose vaccination,"no new safety concerns have emerged", the FDA said in a statement.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still needs to give its final approval for the decisions, expected in the coming days.