FDA advisers back Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5 to 11 years old
CBSN
Pfizer's request to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for Americans as young as 5 years old cleared a key regulatory hurdle Tuesday, after a panel of the Food and Drug Administration's outside vaccine advisers voted by a majority to back Pfizer's request.
The vote is a crucial step towards vaccinations for younger children, but not the final word. If the FDA decides to formally authorize the vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must also weigh in with its own recommendations before shots can be rolled out.
"I do think we need it as a tool in our armamentarium for high risk children, for equity issues, for parents who really would like to protect their children, and because of the long term, very profound implications of schools being disrupted," Dr. Mark Sawyer, one of the panel's members, said ahead of the vote.
Chaos erupted overnight as police tried to break up a pro-Palestinian encampment at Emerson College in Boston, the latest flashpoint in a growing movement on college campuses around the country protesting Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Hundreds of people have been arrested in Massachusetts, Texas and California during the tense protests, following several rounds of arrests in New York in recent days.
The U.S. government, in what an attorney says is a "monumental admission," said last year that it caused injury to thousands of people on the Hawaiian island of Oahu when jet fuel from its storage facility leaked into the drinking water system. On Monday, thousands of military family members and locals are headed to trial seeking financial compensation.