The German company BioNTech, which developed the Pfizer vaccine, expects to seek approval from regulators for Covid jabs suited for younger children as early as mid-October, its founders have said.
This was reported by Kurier.
“Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five- to 11-year-olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe,” BioNTech’s chief medical officer, Özlem Türeci, told.
Türeci said BioNTech was working on producing the vaccine, which was the same product being administered to adults and children aged 12 and older but in smaller doses.
“Things are looking good, everything is going according to plan,” said the chief executive, Ugur Şahin, who added that the company was also expecting trial data for younger children aged over six months.
The founders of the Mainz-based company told Der Spiegel there was great urgency to increase the protection of Germany’s population through immunization before the onset of autumn.
“There are around 60 days left for us as a society to avoid a hard winter,” said Şahin. “We should do everything possible to mobilize as many people as possible in the next two months.”
It should be noted, Germany has administered at least one dose of a vaccine to 66.3% of the population, thus lagging behind comparably sized European countries such as France, the UK, Italy and Spain.
At the same time, Israel in late July gave the green light for vaccinations with the BioNTech/Pfizer jab to children aged five to 11 at risk of serious health complications, such as brain, heart or lung problems.