The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to be used in teenagers ages 12 to 15, making it the first to be deemed safe for people under 16.

“Today’s action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said Monday. “Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations.”