FDA Panel Recommends Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines for Children 6 Months and Older

Many parents in the U.S. have been waiting to hear that the nation’s youngest children—those under 5 years old—can be vaccinated against COVID-19. Finally, on June 15, an expert panel convened by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that two vaccines, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are safe and effective for children ages 6 months and older. The FDA’s panel voted unanimously—21-0—that the benefits of Moderna’s vaccine outweigh its risks for kids ages 6 months through 5 years of age. They also voted unanimously that the benefits of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine outweigh risks for kids ages 6 months through 4 years. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The FDA usually follows the recommendations of its advisory committee and is thus expected to authorize the shots for emergency use. Assuming it does, the vaccine advisory group of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will review the data and decide whether to make a formal recommendation for vaccination in this age group. If the CDC recommends the vaccine, children ages 6 months to 5 years old could get their shots as soon as next week, becoming the last age group eligible for vaccination against COVID-19. While rates of COVID-19 in this population are relatively low, rates of hospitalization are slowly increasing, possibly due to the dominance of the Omicron variant. According to the latest data from the CDC, more than 2 million cases of ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news