Sharjah24 - AFP: The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization Friday for the use of Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines in the youngest children, the final age group awaiting immunization in most countries.

The agency, whose approval is considered the global gold standard, authorized Moderna's two-dose vaccine for children aged six months to five years, and three doses of Pfizer's shots for those between six months and four years old.

"Today is a day of huge relief for parents and families across America," President Joe Biden said in a statement, adding that vaccinating young children will help "our nation continue to move forward safely."

FDA chief Rober Califf similarly hailed the decision, saying "vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of Covid-19, such as hospitalization and death."

Pfizer said it plans to submit requests for authorization to other regulators around the world, including the European Medicines Agency in early July.

"Parents in the US now have the option to vaccinate their children under 5 years of age, and we are working to ensure that other countries worldwide will follow,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of Germany's BioNTech, which developed the vaccine together with Pfizer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must now also recommend the vaccines before they are put into use in the United States -- a final green light that will be given after a meeting of an advisory committee of experts that is expected to be held shortly.

But the government has said that as soon as the FDA decision was made, 10 million doses could immediately be sent around the country, followed by millions more in subsequent weeks.