HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted Pfizer-BioNTech’s request to allow their Covid-19 vaccine to be given to people ages 12 to 15 on an emergency use basis, boosting immunization among middle school students ahead of the next school year.
This is the first Covid-19 vaccine in the U.S. authorized by FDA for use in younger teens and adolescents.
“The FDA’s expansion of the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age is a significant step in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
There’s one more step remaining before the vaccine can be administered to this younger group. The Advisory Committee within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to meet Wednesday (Thursday, Guam time) to advise CDC on whether to recommend use of the vaccine in this younger age group.
On Guam, surveys of schools have started to determine how many parents would want their children to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to Dr. Hoa Nguyen, chairman of the Governor’s Physicians Advisory Group and a partner at American Medical Center.
Nguyen on Monday said vaccination of 12 to 15 years old could start as early as next week on Guam, depending on further authorization from federal agencies.
The two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is already authorized for use in people 16 and older.
The FDA, in a statement, said it has determined that Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine has met statutory criteria to amend the emergency use authorization, and that the known and potential benefits of this vaccine in individuals 12 years of age and older outweigh the known and potential risks, supporting the vaccine’s use in this age group.
“Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement.
On Guam, the vaccination of 12 to 15 years old could easily help reach the governor’s goal of reaching 80% herd immunity, when at least 100,000 of the population gets vaccinated, by July 21, officials had said.
The Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services earlier said that preparations have been underway to vaccinate 12 to 15 years old, from doing public education and awareness campaigns to taking care of the logistics.
Toto resident Savanna Aguon, 17, flexes after receiving her first vaccination during the Mongmong-Toto-Maite Covid-19 village vaccination clinic on May 4, 2021.
Photo by Haruo Simion/The Guam Daily Post
