US regulators put brakes on Covid vaccine for children under five

Next week, FDA advisers were supposed to publicly debate if youngsters should starting getting two shots before it is clear if they would actually need a third.

But Friday, the FDA reversed course and said it had become clear it needed to wait for data on how well that third shot works for this age group. Pfizer said in a statement that it expected the data by early April.

On Friday, the FDA did not say exactly what new data Pfizer was providing, except that it involved the critical issue of a third dose.