Pfizer expects to approve vaccine for ages 5-11 as early as late fall

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Many parents are wondering when children under the age of 12 will be able to receive the vaccine.

This news will be delivered by reporter Han Se-hyeon.

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Pfizer forecasts that a COVID-19 vaccine targeting children aged 5 to 11 will be approved as early as this fall.

The plan is to submit clinical trial data for children of that age to the Food and Drug Administration next month, and to complete the application for emergency approval by October.

Considering the review period, which usually lasts 4-6 weeks, Pfizer predicted that vaccine use could be approved in late autumn or early winter.

Pfizer's vaccine has already received formal approval for those aged 16 and over and emergency approval for those aged 12 to 15.

[Jeff Giants/White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator: Importantly, we have reached an important milestone in youth immunization. Half of 12- to 17-year-olds have completed their primary vaccine.]

However, the number of hospitalized patients in the United States is increasing due to the spread of the highly contagious delta mutation.

As of the previous day in local time, the average daily hospitalization in the United States for the past seven days has exceeded 100,000.

That's the highest figure outside of last winter, when the pandemic peaked.

As a result, the average daily death toll has exceeded 1,000 for the first time since March of this year.

As the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. increases, the European Union has again restricted entry from the U.S. for the first time in two months.

The EU evaluates the level of COVID-19 infection every two weeks and announces a list of 'safe travel countries', which currently includes 17 countries, including Korea, Japan, and Canada.