Pfizer shot for kids aged 5-11 may get US nod by October end

Top US health officials believe that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine could be authorised for children aged 5-11 years old by the end of October, two sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

The timeline is based on the expectation that Pfizer, which developed the shot with Germany’s BioNTech, will have enough data from clinical trials to seek emergency use authorization (EUA) for that age group from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) towards the end of this month, the sources said.

They anticipate the FDA could make a decision on whether the shot is safe and effective in younger children within three weeks of the EUA submission.


The decision on whether to authorise a vaccine for younger children is eagerly anticipated by millions of Americans, particularly parents whose children started school in recent weeks amid a wave of infections driven by the Delta variant.

Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci outlined the timetable during an online town hall meeting attended by thousands of staff at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Friday, according to one of the sources. A second source familiar with the situation said that the FDA anticipated a similar timeline for Pfizer.

If Pfizer submits its EUA by the end of September, and the data support its use, “by the time we get to October, the first couple of weeks of October... the Pfizer product will likely be ready,” Fauci said, according to the source.