Washington, DC: The United States Food and Drug Administration has finally given its nod for administering the Pfizer-BioNtech anti-coronavirus vaccine to children aged 5-11, health officials informed in a move hailed by President Joe Biden as a “turning point” in the fight against the pandemic.
The jab was endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention days after the FDA gave its authorisation, paving the way for vaccination of up to 28 million kids.
The United States government has already procured enough doses for children in the age group and had started shipping them across the country.
“Today, following a rigorous review and authorization process by the FDA, the CDC has formally recommended the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11. This is encouraging news, and a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus,” President Joe Biden said.
He said that his country has “reached a turning point in our battle against Covid-19” with this.
“Today, we have reached a turning point in our battle against COVID-19: authorization of a safe, effective vaccine for children age 5 to 11. It will allow parents to end months of anxious worrying about their kids, and reduce the extent to which children spread the virus to others. It is a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus,” Biden said.
Biden said that inoculating kids will “allow us to build on the extraordinary progress we’ve made over the last nine months”
“Already, more than 78 percent of Americans age 12 and older have gotten at least one shot, including millions of teenagers — and the vaccines have proven to be incredibly safe and effective,” the President said.
He said that the US government has “already secured enough vaccines for every child in America”.
“The program will ramp up over the coming days, and (be) fully up and running during the week of November 8,” he said.
