Report: Pfizer coronavirus vaccine could be available for kids under 5 in February

A Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine vial.
(Image credit: Justin Tallis-Pool/Getty Images)

The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine could become available for children younger than 5 by the end of February, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post on Monday. This would be the first vaccine made available for the age group in the United States.

The companies are expected to soon submit a request to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorization of the vaccine in kids 6 months to 5 years old, the Post reports. Once the FDA receives the application, regulators will begin reviewing the trial data on the two-shot regimen; data on a third shot won't be available until the end of March, at the earliest. The FDA's outside advisers will likely meet on the authorization request in mid-February, the Post reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.