Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE asked US health authorities to give their Covid-19 vaccine to adolescents, which could make the injections available to children in the coming weeks.
The companies said Friday they asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to extend the use of their shot to children 12 and older. The companies also said they planned to make similar requests to regulators in other countries.
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is currently approved in the US for people 16 and older. Shots from Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are approved in the US for use in adults 18 years of age and older.
The FDA expects to take a few weeks to review the request, one person familiar with the matter said. The agency does not intend, the person said, to ask a panel of outside experts to review the submission, as the agency did before the admission was first approved in December.
Health authorities say it will be important to vaccinate children to protect them from the virus and to achieve the community-wide immunity needed to get past the pandemic, known as herd immunity.