FDA says it is ‘working around the clock’ to support Covid vaccine approvals for kids under age 12

• The FDA said Friday that U.S. regulators are "working around the clock" to support the approvals of Covid-19 vaccines for kids under age 12.
• The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine has been cleared for people as young as 12, while Moderna and J&J vaccines have been authorized for adults.
• Many parents say they are anxious to get their children vaccinated, especially as schools reopen and the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread.

12-year-old Justing Concepcion receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from registered nurse Angela Nyarko, during a vaccination event for local adolescents and adults outside the Bronx Writing Academy school in the Bronx, New York City, June 4, 2021.Mike Segar | Reuters

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that U.S. regulators are "working around the clock" to support the approvals of Covid-19 vaccines for kids under age 12.

So far, the Pfizer–BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has been cleared by the FDA for people as young as 12, while Moderna's and Johnson & Johnson's vaccines have been authorized for adults.

Federal regulators are "eager to see our children and grandchildren vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock and Dr. Peter Marks, the agency's top vaccine regulator, said in a joint statement. "We have to let the science and data guide us."

To ensure safety, clinical trials testing the vaccines are expected to include a monitoring period of at least two months after half the participants get the shots, they said.

"Once the manufacturers complete the relevant portion of their clinical trials, they have to complete the analysis of the data from the studies to understand how safe the vaccine is and how well it works in the clinical trial participants," they said.