FDA Clears Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine For Children As Young As 12

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded its emergency use authorization for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to children as young as 12 Monday, the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive the green light.

The FDA had previously approved both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on children ages 16 and up, but Pfizer is the first vaccine now available to all teenagers. A CDC panel will meet Wednesday to determine how the vaccine should be administered to young children, and the vaccine will be fully cleared for use following CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s approval.

Severe cases of COVID-19 are extremely rare among children, but while they have largely been spared direct danger from the pandemic, their schooling and often social lives have ground to a halt nevertheless. President Joe Biden’s administration has sought to prioritize school reopenings given science showing that in-person learning poses a low risk of spread, but the progress has been slow.