A setback for parents eager to vaccinate their young children.
Pfizer-BioNTech is postponing its application to the US Food and Drug Administration to expand the use of its Covid-19 vaccine for children under five years old
Meaning there is no vaccine yet on the horizon for children aged six months to four years old.
The reason for the delay, NBC News reports, is that Pfizer wants to wait for its data on a three-dose series of the vaccine, because it believes three doses “may provide a higher level of protection in this age group.”
Two doses not enough
This delay comes after the company said in December that two doses of the vaccine didn’t generate a strong enough immune response in its trial of children ages 2 to 4. For young children, Pfizer’s vaccine has a dosage of 3 micrograms. For children ages 5 to 11, the dosage is higher, at 10 micrograms.
Pfizer now wants to test out a third dose for children in the younger cohort, and the company has still asked the FDA to go ahead and authorize the first two doses, with a plan to submit additional data in the coming weeks on a third dose.
What this means, is that for children aged two to four, the full vaccination series would be three doses.
Data on the third dose is expected in early April, Pfizer said.
