Covid-19 news: US and UK delay next decisions on child vaccinations

US awaits more data on vaccinating under-5s while UK government delays decision on vaccinating 5-to-11-year-olds. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has delayed a decision on whether to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children between 6 months to 4 years of age in the US. A decision was due to be made tomorrow. On 11 February, the agency said it had decided to wait for more data from clinical trials involving under-5s before making a decision. Earlier this month, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted data on two doses of a three-dose regimen for 6-month-to-five-year-olds to the FDA, but “it makes sense to wait for the safety and efficacy data on all three doses to be available before we make a decision about this vaccine,” said Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. The data on three shots is due to be available in early April.