Federal health officials said Sunday that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appears safe and effective for children below the age of five, clearing another hurdle in the path to adding that group to the nation’s vaccine program. The FDA posted its analysis of the Pfizer shot ahead of a Wednesday meeting where outside experts will vote on whether the shots are ready for the 18 million children in that cohort,as the Associated Press reported. Late last week, the FDA posted a similar analysis of the Moderna vaccine in very young children. If the FDA oks the shots, they could start to be administered by next week.
U.S. cases are averaging 103,193 a day, down 6% from two weeks ago, according to the paper’s tracker. The country is averaging 29,753 hospitalizations a day, up 10% from two weeks ago. The daily death toll has fallen to 331 on average, down 11% from two weeks ago. On a global basis, total cases are now above 535.3 million. Total deaths are above 6.3 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. still leading the way with 85.5 million cases and 1,011,275 deaths.
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