Current:Home > ContactThe FDA clears updated COVID-19 vaccines for kids under age 5-LoTradeCoin
The FDA clears updated COVID-19 vaccines for kids under age 5
View Date:2025-01-18 14:38:05
U.S. regulators on Thursday cleared doses of the updated COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than age 5.
The Food and Drug Administration's decision aims to better protect the littlest kids amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases around the country — at a time when children's hospitals already are packed with tots suffering from other respiratory illnesses including the flu.
"Vaccination is the best way we know to help prevent the serious outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death," Dr. Peter Marks, FDA's vaccine chief, told The Associated Press.
Omicron-targeted booster shots made by Moderna and rival Pfizer already were open to everyone 5 and older.
The FDA now has authorized use of the tweaked shots starting at age 6 months — but just who is eligible depends on how many vaccinations they've already had, and which kind. Only about 5% of youngsters under age 5 have gotten the full primary series since vaccinations for the littlest kids began in June.
The FDA decided that:
--Children under age 6 who've already gotten two original doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine can get a single booster of Moderna's updated formula if it's been at least two months since their last shot.
--Pfizer's vaccine requires three initial doses for tots under age 5 — and those who haven't finished that vaccination series will get the original formula for the first two shots and the omicron-targeted version for their third shot.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to sign off soon, the final step for shots to begin.
Marks said the bivalent vaccine is safe for tots and will help parents "keep the protection for those children as up to date as possible."
But children under 5 who already got all three Pfizer doses aren't yet eligible for an updated booster.
For now, "the good news is they are probably reasonably well-protected," Marks said.
The FDA expects data from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech sometime next month to determine whether those tots will need an omicron-targeted booster "and we will act on that as soon as we can," he said.
For parents who haven't yet gotten their children vaccinated, it's not too late — especially as "we are entering a phase when COVID-19 cases are increasing," Marks said.
The updated vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer are combination shots, containing half the original vaccine and half tweaked to match the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron strains that until recently were dominant. Now BA.5 descendants are responsible for most COVID-19 cases.
The CDC last month released the first real-world data showing that an updated booster, using either company's version, does offer added protection to adults. The analysis found the greatest benefit was in people who'd never had a prior booster, just two doses of the original COVID-19 vaccine — but that even those who'd had a summertime dose were more protected than if they'd skipped the newest shot.
veryGood! (2613)
Related
- Blake Shelton Announces New Singing Competition Show After Leaving The Voice
- Government sues Union Pacific over using flawed test to disqualify color blind railroad workers
- New Maryland law lifts civil statute of limitations for all child sex abuse claims
- GBI investigating fatal shooting of armed man by officers who say he was making threats
- South Carolina lab recaptures 5 more escaped monkeys but 13 are still loose
- Germany bans decades-old neo-Nazi group Artgemeinschaft, accused of trying to raise new enemies of the state
- Stevie Nicks enters the Barbie zeitgeist with her own doll: 'They helped her have my soul'
- Horoscopes Today, October 1, 2023
- Research reveals China has built prototype nuclear reactor to power aircraft carrier
- As the 'water tower of Asia' dries out, villagers learn to recharge their springs
Ranking
- Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Explains His Stance on His Daughter Gwendlyn Brown’s Sexuality
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says last-minute disaster assistance is unconscionable after record-breaking rain
- Congress didn’t include funds for Ukraine in its spending bill. How will that affect the war?
- Pro-Russia hackers claim responsibility for crashing British royal family's website
- Blake Shelton Announces New Singing Competition Show After Leaving The Voice
- Disney+ is cracking down on password sharing in Canada. Is the US next?
- Malaysians urged not to panic-buy local rice after import prices for the staple rise substantially
- Chiefs vs Jets Sunday Night Football highlights: Kansas City wins, Taylor Swift celebrates
Recommendation
-
Kyle Richards Shares an Amazing Bottega Dupe From Amazon Along With Her Favorite Fall Trends
-
Massachusetts exonerees press to lift $1M cap on compensation for the wrongfully convicted
-
Lil Tay makes grand return with new music video following death hoax
-
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' Many NSFW Confessions Might Make You Blush
-
What Just Happened to the Idea of Progress?
-
Montana is appealing a landmark climate change ruling that favored youth plaintiffs
-
Police arrest 2 in killing of 'Boopac Shakur,' vigilante who lured alleged sex predators
-
US health officials propose using a cheap antibiotic as a ‘morning-after pill’ against STDs