Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Approved For Arizonans 12 And Older

ARIZONA — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Monday expanded the emergency use authorization of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines to those 12-15 years of age.

The move comes five months after the FDA allowed those age 16 and older to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“The FDA’s expansion of the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age is a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D in a statement. “Today’s action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic. Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations.”

A total of 1.5 million COVID-19 cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control among those between the age of 11-17, the administration said.

The administration's decision comes after finding that the potential benefits of giving vaccinations to those 12 years of age and older outweighed potential risks.

“Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in a statement. “With science guiding our evaluation and decision-making process, the FDA can assure the public and medical community that the available data meet our rigorous standards to support the emergency use of this vaccine in the adolescent population 12 years of age and older.”

Arizona Department of Health Services Communications Director Steve Elliott told Patch that the expansion would not impact the state's vaccine roll-out, other than to reemphasize how important it is to streamline the state's vaccine distribution efforts.

"The pending change for Pfizer to include those 12-15 makes it important to get Pfizer vaccine into counties that don’t have state vaccination sites,"Elliott told Patch. "ADHS is coordinating with federal partners for an accounting of where Pfizer is currently available through federally qualified health centers and participants in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. We also are contacting counties and the five tribal nations receiving allocations through the state to find out whether they are able to receive trays of Pfizer vaccine. In the past week, ADHS allocated Pfizer to Maricopa County to use in three vaccination clinics. Because each Pfizer tray includes more than 1,000 doses and has stringent storage requirements, rural counties and tribal partners have previously asked to receive the Moderna and J&J vaccines, which have smaller lot sizes and less-stringent storage requirements.

"Meanwhile, state vaccination sites, which use the Pfizer vaccine, will have procedures in place for vaccinating those 12-15 when the emergency use authorization is expanded."