On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in young children as old as 6 months.
Details: However, these shots can’t be administered until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has voted whether or not to recommend them, which will take place on Saturday, according to CNN.
- The health agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, will also need to sign off on the recommendation.
- This means that Moderna’s two-dose vaccine will be authorized for children from 6 months to 17 years old, while Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine will be available for children from 6 months to 4 years old, per The New York Times.
What they said: “Many parents, caregivers and clinicians have been waiting for a vaccine for younger children and this action will help protect those down to 6 months of age,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf in a news release.
- “As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” he said.
- “Those trusted with the care of children can have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these COVID-19 vaccines and can be assured that the agency was thorough in its evaluation of the data.”
The bigger picture: Johns Hopkins Medicine reported that unvaccinated individuals are more than two times as likely to be infected with COVID-19.