Vox Sentences - Vaccines for the littlest ones

The FDA has asked Pfizer to seek emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine for children under 5; Biden moves more troops to Europe amid standoff with Russia.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Pfizer seeking vaccine authorization for under-5s

Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images

• Pfizer has requested emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its Covid-19 vaccine to be used to inoculate children ages 6 months to 5 years. Children in this age range are the last to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and the push to inoculate them comes as the highly infectious omicron variant is affecting young children more seriously. [Food and Drug Administration]
• On Tuesday, the FDA asked Pfizer to request emergency use authorization, a highly unusual move. Pfizer’s clinical trials haven’t yet determined the appropriate number of doses for sufficient protection in this age group. [AP / Lauran Neergaard and Matthew Perrone]
• The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee will meet February 15 to discuss Pfizer’s clinical trial data and make its recommendation regarding the emergency use authorization. They’ll be looking at data on the effectiveness of two three-microgram doses, which appear to produce an immune response in very young children, but not as significant of a response in older children in this age group. [NPR / Selena Simmons-Duffin and Alyson Hurt]
• But as very young children suffer more serious cases of Covid-19 now than with previous variants, the pressure is mounting to give them some sort of immunity, even if it’s less than perfect. And, some officials hope, they’ll be ready for a third dose by the time the trials are completed, offering them improved immunity. [NYT / Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland]
• Although the process of the authorization is unusual, that doesn’t mean it’s unwise. “There should be a robust safety profile and a robust efficacy profile and immunogenicity profile, Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel said, adding, "speed doesn’t really matter, as long as they have those data.” [CNN / Jamie Gumbrecht]

US troops headed to Europe amid standoff with Russia

• US President Joe Biden is sending 2,000 US troops to Poland and Germany, and shifting 1,000 from Germany to Romania as tensions between Russia and the West intensify over Russia’s threats against Ukraine. While diplomatic efforts are still ongoing, talks between the US, NATO countries, and Russia have failed to produce results. [Politico / Paul McCleary, Quint Forgey, and Connor O’Brien]
• The US has reiterated that troops are not being sent directly to Ukraine to fight there; they’re intended as backup for NATO forces and the move is “temporary,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday. But, he said, “This is not the sum total of the deterrence actions we will take, or those to reassure our allies.” [Washington Post]
• Russia objected to the deployments, calling them “destructive.” The Kremlin has specifically outlined in security demands that it finds NATO expansion and troop buildup intolerable and could use Biden’s decision as a reason for further antagonism on the Ukrainian border. [AP]
• The deployments are expected to take place in the next few days, although military leaders haven’t provided specifics. About 900 US troops are already in Romania, and a few hundred military advisers are presently in Ukraine, although no US troops are. [WSJ / Gordon Lubold and Nancy A. Youssef]

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) is recovering from a stroke —  potentially further endangering Democrats’  legislative agenda. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• A report by human rights organization Amnesty International has found that Israeli treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. [Washington Post / Miriam Berger]
• The US Army on Wednesday began discharging soldiers who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19. [Reuters]
• A coup attempt in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau has failed, but left several dead. [Al Jazeera]

"Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act."

[Amnesty International's secretary general, Agnés Callamard, on the findings of the human rights group's report on the oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli state]

Vice President Kamala Harris just attended Honduras’s presidential inauguration. Her trip was really about the US-Mexico border. [Spotify]

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