By LAURAN NEERGAARD

Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters.

The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. But with kids now back in school and the extra-contagious delta variant causing a huge jump in pediatric infections, many parents are anxiously awaiting vaccinations for their younger children.

For elementary school-aged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose — a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now. Yet after their second dose, children ages 5 to 11 developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults, Dr. Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice president, told The Associated Press.

The kid dosage also proved safe, with similar or fewer temporary side effects — such as sore arms, fever or achiness — that teens experience, he said.

“I think we really hit the sweet spot,” said Gruber, who’s also a pediatrician.

Gruber said the companies aim to apply to the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the month for emergency use in this age group, followed shortly afterward with applications to European and British regulators.

Earlier this month, FDA chief Dr. Peter Marks told the AP that once Pfizer turns over its study results, his agency would evaluate the data “hopefully in a matter of weeks” to decide if the shots are safe and effective enough for younger kids.

Many Western countries so far have vaccinated no younger than age 12, awaiting evidence of what’s the right dose and that it works safely in smaller tots. But Cuba last week began immunizing children as young as 2 with its homegrown vaccines and Chinese regulators have cleared two of its brands down to age 3.

While kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death than older people, more than 5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began and at least 460 have died, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Cases in children have risen dramatically as the delta variant swept through the country.

By RYAN J. FOLEY

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The first Black police chief in Waterloo, Iowa, is facing intense opposition from some current and former officers as he works with city leaders to reform the department, including the removal of its longtime insignia that resembles a Ku Klux Klan dragon.

Joel Fitzgerald says his 16-month tenure in Waterloo, a city of 67,000 with a history of racial divisions, is a “case study” for what Black police chiefs face as they seek to build community trust and hold officers to higher standards. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said the attacks were driven by misinformation and racism toward him and his boss, the city’s first Black mayor.

“I don’t think there’s been any police chief in America in a small- or medium-sized department that have endured this for the reasons I have endured it and I think the reasons have to do with race,” said Fitzgerald, who previously served as the chief of larger departments in Fort Worth, Texas and Allentown, Pennsylvania. “This is my fourth job being the first Black police chief. I’ve dealt with pushback in other places but never so overt. Never so nonfactual.”

Jacinta Gau, a University of Central Florida professor and expert on race and policing, said new, reform-minded chiefs always face backlash, and that is intensified when they are Black leaders of historically white forces.

“The power dynamic in America has always been that Black people are subordinate to white people. When Black people acquire leadership positions, that power dynamic is flipped on its head and white people who were comfortable with the status quo are now feeling very threatened,” she said.

The backlash against Fitzgerald has intensified since last fall when the City Council began pushing to remove the department’s emblem — a green-eyed, red-bodied, winged creature known as a griffin that had adorned patches on officers’ uniforms since the 1960s.

After a messy process, the council voted 5-2 last week to order the department to remove the symbol from its uniforms by the end of September.

It was the latest among several changes the department has made under Fitzgerald that have won praise from Mayor Quentin Hart, most City Council members and some community leaders — while angering the police union, retired officers and conservatives.

A white City Council member running to unseat Hart in November has portrayed herself as a champion of police while vowing to oust Fitzgerald if elected. A political action committee supporting her and other “pro-law enforcement candidates” called Cedar Valley Backs the Blue has attacked Fitzgerald and Hart on Facebook, claiming they are mismanaging the department.

Three of Fitzgerald’s predecessors as chief released a letter saying they were outraged at what the department had become under his leadership, claiming it was “imploding” and that morale had hit an all-time low.

Adding to the backlash is that Fitzgerald is an outsider to Waterloo with academic degrees some critics mock as elitist. He acknowledges “it didn’t look good” when news emerged that he was a finalist for chief openings in bigger cities during his first year.

Opponents have attacked everything from Fitzgerald’s salary — which is in line with similar chiefs in Iowa — to his off-duty trips to visit family in Texas, where his teenage son continues treatment for a brain tumor that was removed in 2019.

Last year, he took over a department that has long experienced tension with the city’s Black community, which comprises 17% of the city population.

Hart said Waterloo could have been a hotbed of racial unrest after George Floyd’s death given its history, but Fitzgerald helped ease tensions the day before he was sworn on June 1, 2020, in by meeting with protesters for hours to hear their concerns.

“It was a resetting of the clock moment,” Fitzgerald said.

Numerous changes soon followed: banning chokeholds, outlawing racial profiling, requiring officers to intervene if they see excessive force, and investigating all complaints of misconduct.

The Waterloo Commission on Human Rights called for the removal of the griffin emblem, saying it evoked fear and distrust among some given its resemblance to the KKK symbol.

But generations of Waterloo officers had seen it as a symbol of their vigilance. The Waterloo Police Protective Association, which represents officers, denied it had racist intent and mobilized against its removal.

Fitzgerald, one of a handful of officers of color in the 123-member department, said he was met with fierce pushback when he suggested the department rebrand itself voluntarily before the council acted.

Supporters of the griffin, including the Back the Blue group, framed its removal as an affront to officers.

“The beatdown of our police officers continues,” City Council member Margaret Klein, who is running for mayor, wrote on Facebook, citing the “devastating impact of removing the beloved 50-year patch design.” She has called for Fitzgerald’s resignation.

Hart said the debate over the griffin missed the bigger picture. He said the department has undergone a “complete paradigm shift,” adopting a community policing model that has been popular.

“Decency and respect, that’s what I want. But I’m pro-law enforcement,” said Hart, who was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 and 2019.

The Back the Blue group has labeled Hart a “radical mayor” and released an anonymous survey taken by half the current officers and dozens of retirees showing all 98 believed Fitzgerald was the wrong man for the job. Officers complained that they didn’t feel supported by the community or the administration.

“It’s sad and it’s pathetic but this is what’s going on at the Waterloo Police Department,” said group chairman Lynn Moller, a retired investigator.

Fitzgerald said officer morale is a national problem and Waterloo has eight vacancies after some officers retired or left for other jobs. He proposed a strategic plan to improve morale and hire more officers in coming years.

City Council member Jonathan Grieder said Fitzgerald had been slandered by people claiming to love the police.

“We are grappling with the very real issues that have long been embedded of race and force and policing,” he said. “I get that some people have never had to reckon with that until now. I get that it’s uncomfortable.”