Pfizer asks FDA to allow COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5

Pfizer asks FDA to allow COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5

Alexis, 6 years-old, gets his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, at a vaccination center in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Jan.26, 2022. Romania has started the vaccination campaign for children between the ages of 5 and 11, as it recorded a huge jump in COVID-19 infections, hitting a pandemic record of nearly 35,000 daily cases, almost doubling its previous record set only a day earlier. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer is asking U.S. regulators to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5. The move could open the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots by early March. The nation’s 19 million children under 5 are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination against the coronavirus. Many parents have been pushing for an expansion of shots to toddlers and preschoolers, especially as the omicron wave sent record numbers of youngsters to the hospital. If the Food and Drug Administration agrees, Pfizer shots containing just one-tenth of the dose given to adults could be dispensed to children as young as 6 months.

Photo: Alexis, 6 years-old, gets his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, at a vaccination center in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Jan.26, 2022. . (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)