According to a federal official, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for youth 12 to 15 by next week. This is good news in terms of getting shots for many before the next school year begins.

From a report by Western Mass News, this news is set to come approximately a month after Pfizer found its shot, which is already authorized for those 16 and older, also provided protection for the younger group.

Pfizer has applied for emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine for teens and children ages 12 to 15. The FDA is currently reviewing data to support the extended use. According to Pfizer, a clinical trial held at the end of March involving over 2,000 12-to-15-year-olds, showed its efficacy is 100%.

While younger people are at dramatically lower risk of serious side effects from COVID-19, they have made up a larger share of new virus cases as a majority of U.S. adults have been at least partially vaccinated. Also, higher-risk activities such as contact sports have resumed in many parts of the country.

Officials hope that extending the vaccinations to teens will continue the decline of virus caseloads and allow schools to reopen this fall with minimal risk.

Shots could begin for 12-to-15-year-olds as soon as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention adopts the committee's recommendation. That should happen within a matter of days.

For more on the story(much more!), check out Western Mass News' website here.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

 

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