Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Tuesday that he was optimistic that U.S. regulators would be approving its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old. Currently, Pfizer's vaccines are only available for those older than 5 years of age.

“I think the chances are very high for the FDA to approve it,” Bourla told CNBC in an interview. “I think that they will be pleased with the data and they will approve."

On Friday, the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee is expected to publish data on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids younger than 5 before its next meeting on Feb. 15. The committee is expected to issue a decision on whether or not the FDA should authorize the shots.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical advisor and the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicted that the vaccine for the youngest children would be made available sometime soon. During a virtual town hall meeting last month with Blue Star Families, a nonprofit that supports military families, Fauci said he expected the vaccine would be made available in February.

"My hope is that it's going to be within the next month or so and not much later than that, but I can't guarantee that," Fauci said.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has driven up the number of infections among children in the U.S. As Omicron became the dominant strain in the U.S., pediatric hospitalizations reached a higher number than at any point during the COVID pandemic.

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