Younger adolescents may soon be eligible for COVID-19 booster vaccines, possibly by early next week.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning on Monday to broaden booster eligibility to include 12- to 15-year-olds, sources told the New York Times.
This would be for the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, currently, the only COVID-19 vaccine approved for this age group.
The FDA is also expected to reduce the amount of time that adolescents and adults must wait between their second dose of the shot and their booster dose to five months, down from the current six months.
The regulators are also expected to authorize a booster for a select group of younger children, those ages 5 to 11, who have immune deficiencies and are therefore more vulnerable to COVID-19.
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After the FDA makes its decisions, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee will meet to