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Pfizer-BioNTech submits an emergency use request for Covid booster for kids aged 5-11

US pharmaceutical company Pfizer requested emergency authorization for its COVID-19 booster dose for school-age children aged 5 to 11 on Monday in an effort to combat recent Covid subvariants of Omicron.

Pfizer and BioNTech, its German vaccine development partner, asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a 10-microgram dose of the vaccine. The booster shot is directed against the primary Covid strain, the Omicron variant, and its later BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

According to studies, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants currently make up nearly 90 per cent of all new cases in the US. If the bivalent booster is authorised by the FDA, it will need to clear one last hurdle of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), which is USA’s main federal health agency.

Currently, anyone 12 years of age or older can receive a 15 microgram bivalent booster dose of the vaccine thanks to approval from the US FDA.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf thinks that even while the number of Covid cases in the nation is declining, there may be ‘yet another increase as we spend more time indoors later this fall and winter.’

Over 616 million vaccination doses have reportedly been given across the USA to date, according to CDCP data.

Since June 18, 2022, more than 1.24 million kids older than five have received at least one dose of an immunisation. Regarding the booster shots, the new booster dose has been administered to 4.4 million Americans.

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