COVID-19 Vaccines: Pfizer-BioNTech Begins Testing in Children / Priority for Seafarers & Air Crew

By Kelly Young

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and André Sofair, MD, MPH

Have a look at some of the latest news on COVID-19 vaccines:

Testing in children: Pfizer and BioNTech have begun testing the safety and immunogenicity of their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in children aged 6 months to 11 years. They plan to enroll over 4600 children in the U.S. and Europe. They said they hope to have results in the second half of the year and seek authorization for this age group in 2022.

Priority for seafarers and air crew: The World Health Organization is joining other groups in calling for people who work in the maritime and air transport fields to be considered essential workers and given priority for COVID-19 vaccination. These workers are often required to move across borders. As of January, some 400,000 workers were stranded on their commercial ships at sea because of travel restrictions.