F.D.A. Plans to Allow 12- to 15-Year-Olds to Receive Pfizer Boosters

The Food and Drug Administration to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds Monday. (Emily Elconin, Reuters)

The United States Food and Drug Administration should receive a booster injection of the Pfizer vaccine up to five months after a second dose from the current six months, the newspaper reported.

The increase in cases caused by omicrons can be an important tool for millions of children. According to initial data from laboratory studies, the variant can bypass some of the protection offered by two doses of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine.

But the booster doses of the PfizerBioNTech and Moderna vaccines appear to protect against Omicron, also based on laboratory studies.

The rapidly spreading variant has resulted in thousands of new COVID19 hospital admissions for U.S. children in the past few weeks, raising new concerns about the number of unvaccinated Americans under the age of 18

who will do well with the new surge.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that the agency could receive a call regarding the third dose of the COVID19 vaccine for children aged 12-15 The vaccine - The CDC's Advisory Committee plans to meet mid-next week to vote on whether to recommend the changes.

While officials said the vaccines protect against serious illness and death from Omicron, some children as young as 12 to 15 are now more than six months away from their previous vaccinations.