Laurie McGinley covers health and medicine for The Washington Post. She focuses on the Food and Drug Administration as well as cancer research and treatment. She was previously The Post's health, science and environment editor.
A greenlight from the FDA, followed by an endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would give parents another choice of shots for school-age children and adolescents.
If all goes as expected, two vaccines — one by Moderna, the other by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech — will be authorized by federal authorities and be available by June 21.
The data is a step toward a vaccine for infants, toddlers and children younger than 5 — the last age group to lack access to a coronavirus vaccine in the United States.