Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla gives a press conference after a visit to monitor the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the factory of the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Puurs, Belgium, on 23 April 2021.
John Thys | Swimming pool | Reuters
Pfizer expects to publish clinical trial data on the operation of its Covid-19 vaccine in children aged 6 months to 5 years as early as the end of October, CEO Albert Bourla said on Tuesday.
Covid vaccine data for children ages 5 to 11 will arrive much sooner, he said, potentially ready to be sent to the Food and Drug Administration later this month.
“Then it’s up to the FDA to take their time and then make a decision,” Bourla said during an interview with Research! America’s 2021 National Health Research Forum.
The CEO’s comments come as many parents say they are eager to vaccinate their children, especially when schools reopen and the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread. Tension has led to an increase in hospitalizations across the United States, including young children who are currently not eligible to receive the shots.
To date, the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has been eliminated by the FDA for people up to 12 years of age, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been approved for adults.
On Friday, FDA officials said they were “working 24 hours a day” to support the approval of Covid vaccines for children under 12.
Dr Peter Marks, the agency’s top vaccine regulator, said last month the agency would move as “as quickly” as possible in approving the shot for children under 12 once companies submit data .
“Currently, there are still tests underway and therefore the agency has to wait for the company to submit the data for these trials,” he said on August 23. “We definitely want to make sure we do it right.”