Andreas Rinke and Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters), -The European Union has begun a rollout for the European Union. Pfizer (NYSE:) The COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to eleven years old will be available from BioNTech on December 13. This is one week sooner than originally planned.

Given the current pandemic, it is encouraging news for both parents and their children. Jens Spahn, acting health minister, said that many people are eagerly awaiting the announcement.

Germany is expected to get 2.4 millions doses in two-dose form, according the ministry.

Germany’s Regional Health Ministers agreed Monday to be ready for the launch with offers such as Family Sections within vaccination centres.

BioNTech confirmed that an earlier start had been made, and added that this was subject to the production batch passing quality controls checks by next week.

Thanks to the “massive effort, including weekends work,” of Pfizer staff and BioNTech employees, the rollout won’t have an effect on delivery volumes.

According to the EU Commission, BioNTech was in talks with them about the pandemic but had not been asked for a faster delivery. A EU official said that it was not the Commission who had requested the action.

After May’s approval to give standard doses to children over 12 years, the EU has approved low-dose vaccination for 5- to 11 year-olds.

In some countries, there has been a lot of demand for vaccines for young children. Austria has been hard hit and the government has put a lockdown in place. Some provinces were able to vaccinate children as young as five years old using a smaller dose of the vaccine than what was recommended by the EU.

Denmark also followed that lead on Sunday. They said there wasn’t time to lose in the face of rising infection rates among children.

Coronavirus spreads faster in Europe than other regions. This has prompted a rush to convince non-vaccinated people to have shots.

Omicron, a highly contagious, new strain first discovered in South Africa has added urgency to efforts to combat the pandemic.

The number of infections infected by schoolchildren has risen to around twice the level that the general population experienced over the course of recent weeks.

It is possible that more cases of asymptomatic disease are being brought to the attention by frequent testing in schools than those in general.

The paediatric Pfizer shot was first distributed in the United States in November. Canada followed suit in November.