New York (dpa) – US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech plan to add a third dose to ongoing clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine for young children aged 6 months to 4 years.
The companies announced on Friday that a third dose of the vaccine will be tested and administered at the earliest 2 months after the second dose.
This means that the results previously expected for this year or early next year are likely to be delayed, with the companies now expecting them in the «first half of 2022.»
The decision was made because initial data showed that children between the ages of 2 and 5 years did not respond as well to the vaccine as adolescents and adults 16 years and older and children between 6 and 24 months.
No safety concerns were identified, they said.
About 4,500 children between 6 months and 11 years of age from several countries are participating in the study, according to the companies.
The vaccine is now approved for children aged 5 years and older in the US and the EU, among other countries.
BioNTech and Pfizer now also want to study a third vaccine dose for children between the ages of 5 and 12.
