The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Pfizer's booster vaccines for children aged 12 to 15 years.
This decision marks the last step by the US government to get the green light for more doses of vaccines for young Americans.
According to the FDA, individuals who are over the age of 12 and eligible for the booster dose can receive it five months after the last dose, Politico reports.
The FDA cited laboratory studies suggesting that boosters improve individuals' antibody response to the Omicron variant, as well as data from millions of Israeli citizens 16 years of age and older who received boosters after at least five months.
The agency will also allow some children with weaker immunity up to the age of five to receive an extra dose.
The decisions come as the most rapidly transmissible variant of COVID-19, Omicron, threatens to affect daily life.
also
In the USA, booster doses are also authorized for 16-year-olds
FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement that the two-dose vaccine and boosters are necessary in the fight against COVID-19.
"With the current wave of the Omicron variant, it is critical that we continue to take effective, life-saving preventive measures such as primary vaccination and boosters, mask wearing and social distancing in order to effectively combat COVID-19," Woodcock said.
