Pfizer injection
Pfizer injectionFlash 90

Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday submitted preliminary clinical data to US health authorities as part of their effort to seek authorization for a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for all Americans, AFP reports.

The two companies presented the results of their Phase One trial that evaluated the safety and efficacy of a third shot.

"The data we've seen to date suggest a third dose of our vaccine elicits antibody levels that significantly exceed those seen after the two-dose primary schedule," Albert Bourla, Pfizer's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement quoted by AFP.

"A booster vaccine could help reduce infection and disease rates in people who have previously been vaccinated and better control the spread of virus variants during the coming season," said BioNTech Co-founder Ugur Sahin.

The companies plan to submit the same information to European authorities in the coming weeks.

Last Friday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel recommended additional shots of coronavirus vaccines for certain immunocompromised Americans.

The move came after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late Thursday night authorized extra doses of the vaccines for people with organ transplants and those "diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise."

The authorization is for people as young as 12 years old who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and people at least 18 years old for Moderna vaccines.

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, said on Sunday that the US could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer booster shots to Americans this fall.

Among the first to receive them could be health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans, said Collins.