{O/C} Pfizer yesterday asked the United States to authorise ultra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 5.
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The Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, to submit their application before they both were ready.
This, in light of the nation's 19 million children under the age of 5 still not yet eligible for immunisation against the deadly virus.
Many parents have been demanding shots be administered to toddlers and preschoolers especially as the Omicron variant is spreading like wildfire.
Pfizer aims at giving children as young as 6 months old shots that contain one-tenth of the dose administered to adults. It said it had submitted its data to the FDA and expects to complete the entire process in a few days.
Having been contending with an upsurge of COVID cases, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration believe vaccinations are crucial to keeping students safe and freeing up parents from child care duties.
At this stage, paediatric COVID-19 infections are coming in thick and fast, the highest record since the inception of the pandemic.
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