Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Wednesday it is still possible the Food and Drug Administration will approve Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for young kids before Halloween.
“I wouldn’t foreclose the possibility that this could be out in October,” Gottlieb, who sits on Pfizer’s board and served as FDA commissioner for two years in the Trump administration, told the outlet.
Pfizer submitted initial Covid vaccine trial data for kids ages 5 to 11 to the FDA on Tuesday and the company will file a formal application for emergency use authorization “shortly,” Gottlieb said in an interview Wednesday on “Squawk Box.”
Gottlieb noted that the Covid shot for young kids is the same two-dose regime as for adults but would be administered in smaller quantities. The agency has already cleared the shots for Americans age 12 and up.
“They’ve seen a lot of clinical data,” Gottlieb said. “I’ve long said October is a possibility but it is an optimistic possibility. If it slips, it could slip to mid-November.”
