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Pfizer and its partner BioNTech on Friday asked the Food and Drug Administration to greenlight its coronavirus vaccine for use in children 12 to 15 years old, just one week after the companies said a late-stage trial showed the vaccine was highly effective in this age group. If U.S. regulators clear the request, it would make Pfizer's shot the first to become available to younger teens. The move could also speed the timeline for getting more students back into school and curb costly safety measures being considered by education systems. (Owermohle, 4/9)

More than 2,000 young adolescents participated in the vaccine trial’s third phase. Among those who received it, none developed symptomatic coronavirus infections or exhibited serious side effects, the companies said last month. The vaccinated 12- to 15-year-olds also produced higher levels of antibodies, on average, than older adolescents and young adults did. The trial results have not yet been published in a scientific journal. ... Moderna is also testing its vaccine in children. Results from its study of 12- to 17-year olds, which began in December, are expected soon. A separate trial consisting of children under 12 began last month. (Anthes, 4/9)

One effort underway in Franklin County, Ohio, has helped prioritize high schoolers and make getting the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine -- the only one currently authorized for those as young as 16 -- as easy as possible. "It's really important to think about the fact that teens don't live by themselves. If we're trying to target the whole community to get the rate of COVID down, so that we're reducing that transmissibility, we can't ignore this young population," Dr. Sara Bode, primary care physician and medical director of Nationwide Children's Hospital's Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics, told ABC News. "We have to really have them be a significant part of that outreach, otherwise we're just going to shift who is getting COVID and passing it, even if asymptomatic." (Deliso, 4/11)

Duke University in North Carolina has announced that it will require students to have a COVID-19 vaccine when they return this fall. And the list of campuses with such policies is growing. Rutgers University in New Jersey was the first, and since then more than a dozen residential colleges have followed. The University of Notre Dame; two Ivy League universities, Brown and Cornell; and Northeastern University in Massachusetts are among those requiring the vaccine for the fall. Cleveland State University will do so for all students living on campus. (Nadworny, 4/11)

U.S. colleges hoping for a return to normalcy next fall are weighing how far they should go in urging students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, including whether they should — or legally can — require it. Universities including Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern recently told students they must get vaccinated before returning to campus next fall. They hope to achieve herd immunity on campus, which they say would allow them to loosen spacing restrictions in classrooms and dorms. (Binkley, 4/11)

After weeks of watching COVID-19 case numbers fall, federal health officials this week provided an unambiguous update: That trend has been reversed. New cases of the disease are up 2.3% nationally, based on a seven-day average, and hospital admissions are up 2.7%, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Perhaps more worrisome than the raw numbers, though, are the demographics. “Across the country, we are hearing reports of clusters of cases associated with daycare centers and youth sports,” Walensky said at a White House press briefing Wednesday. “Hospitals are seeing more and more young adults — those in their 30s and 40s — admitted with severe disease.” (Kreidler, 4/9)

For Abby Williard, school always felt like a slog. Growing up in a small town in central Pennsylvania, Williard couldn’t seem to complete her schoolwork or stop daydreaming in class. Although she has anxiety and depression, she felt like something else was at play. “I would cry in class because I just couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t take it,” she said. At points, Williard gave up on trying to succeed in school: She nearly failed several classes and was so quiet that teachers would sometimes mark her absent. But one day when she was 16, years of confusion gave way to “a huge moment of clarity.” (Sohn, 4/12)