Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday announced that they had asked the Food and Drug Administration to grant full approval to their COVID-19 vaccine for use in adolescents as young as 12.

The companies added in a press release that they would also file similar applications with the European Medicines Agency and "other regulatory authorities around the world" in the weeks ahead.

The Pfizer vaccine is already available for adolescents under emergency use authorization, though the shots have been granted full FDA approval for everyone aged 16 and up.

Pfizer's vaccine remains the only anti-COVID-19 shot to receive full FDA approval. Moderna applied for full approval for its COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults in August, though the agency is still weighing the application.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 83% of Americans aged 12 and older have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. About 71% of those 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

A German biotechnology company that developed Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is now turning its attention to cancer.

In the journal Science Translational Medicine, BioNTech researchers said they've seen a great promise after a recent trial showed tumors shrinking in mice, including those with more than one tumor, by using "a saline-formulated mixture of four mRNAs delivered by intratumoral injection."

"The combination led to robust antitumor immune responses and tumor regression in multiple mouse models, including models with more than one tumor," the researchers said.

According to the promising data, the experimental treatment contained four mRNAs, including interleukin-12 (IL-12) single chain, interferon-α, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and IL-15 sushi.

With the success of these latest results, researchers said clinical testing is now underway.

HONG KONG — Hong Kong has suspended vaccinations using Pfizer shots after the Chinese distributor informed the city that one batch had defective bottle lids.

The government says the suspension is immediate while the matter is investigated by Fosun Pharma and BioNTech, the German company that created the vaccine with American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.

Government officials say they haven't found any evidence the shots were unsafe but suspended their use as a precaution.

The semi-autonomous territory of Macao also says its residents will not receive the Pfizer vaccinations from the same batch.

More than 150,000 people in Hong Kong have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

The suspension leaves only China's Sinovac vaccine for use in Hong Kong.