Pfizer COVID Vaccine For Kids 12+ Expected To Begin In RivCo

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to include children 12 through 15 years of age, and Riverside County is awaiting a green light from federal and state officials to begin the rollout.

"So the earliest we could anticipate providing vaccination to those 12 to 15 years of age in Riverside County would be the end of this week and potentially next week," Dr. Geoffrey Leung, Riverside County Public Health Officer, told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Once the Pfizer vaccine rollout begins for kids 12 and up, the dosing regimen is expected to be the same as those 16 years of age and older: a series of two shots, three weeks apart.

"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," Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D., said in a released statement Monday.

As part of the recommended expanded use of the Pfizer vaccine, the FDA issued a fact sheet about vaccination in kids 12 and older. Read it here.

From March 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021, approximately 1.5 million COVID-19 cases in individuals 11 to 17 years of age have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the FDA.

Children and adolescents generally have a milder COVID-19 disease course as compared to adults, the FDA reported.