(CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use as a booster in people ages 16 and 17. It’s the first Covid-19 vaccine booster authorized for this age group in the United States.
Just as with adults, 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible to receive a booster dose six months after their second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. About 2.6 million US teens in this age group would be eligible for boosters already — a small addition to the 141 million adults already eligible for boosters.
“Today’s decision by the FDA to further expand the Emergency Use Authorization of a booster dose of our COVID-19 vaccine is a critical milestone as we continue to stay vigilant in addressing the virus,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. “From the beginning, we aimed to provide strong, safe protection to as many people as possible in an effort to end this pandemic. While new variants, including Omicron, emerge across the globe, we believe that the best way to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and any future variants is getting all eligible people fully vaccinated with the first two dose series and a booster dose as recommended.”
“The booster vaccination increases the level of immunity and dramatically improves protection against COVID-19 in all age groups studied so far,” said Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech. “In the current situation, it is important to offer everyone a booster, particularly against the background of the newly emerging variants such as Omicron.”
The Pfizer vaccine is authorized for use in children as young as 5, but previously, only adults were eligible to receive booster doses.
Now, people age 16 and older may receive a Pfizer booster six months after their second shot; Moderna vaccine recipients age 18 and older may receive any booster six months after their second shot; and Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients may receive any booster two months after their single dose. Adults may mix and match boosters; 16- and 17-year-olds are only eligible to receive the Pfizer booster.
US health officials have been pushing for Americans to get boosted for months, and as of last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says all adults should get them.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced preliminary data that suggest its two-dose vaccine does not provide sufficient protection against infection with the Omicron coronavirus variant, although it may still protect against severe disease. However, the companies found, a booster dose increased protection significantly, to nearly the level of protection its two-dose vaccine provided against the earlier strain of the virus.
