The Food and Drug administration has given the all clear to allowing 12- to 15-year old adolescents to receive Covid vaccine boosters.

Breaking News: The FDA cleared boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds. The CDC is expected to sign off before shots are given out. https://t.co/LZo7bUwn50

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 3, 2022

In addition, the FDA will allow both adults and adolescents to get a Pfizer booster five months after their second dose, a move that shaves a month off of existing guidelines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must sign-off on changes to America’s vaccine policy. A CDC vaccine advisory committee will meet next week to review the FDA’s plan.

“The move to expand boosters comes as the highly contagious Omicron variant is infecting a record number of Americans with the coronavirus,” explains The Times, “putting more pressure on hospitals already deluged by Covid-19 patients from the Delta variant.”

“I think the important story to tell here is that severity is way down and the risk for significant severe disease seems to be lower,” said Dr. David Rubin, a researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. https://t.co/V8mXXtfJoX

— Joseph Allen (@j_g_allen) December 29, 2021

Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased 30% in the last week.

“The vaccine is so much safer than getting the virus itself,” New York Presbyterian chief pediatrician Dr. Sallie Permar told CBS News. “And so giving your child the vaccine keeps them safer than letting them get infected with this virus without any immunity from a vaccine.”