U.S. regulators on Friday authorised the first COVID-19 shots for children as young as 6 months, paving the way for infant and preschooler vaccinations to begin as soon as next week. 9News
US regulators on Friday authorised the first COVID-19 shots for children as young as 6 months, paving the way for infant and preschooler vaccinations to begin as soon as next week.
Moderna's vaccine is now authorised for use in children 6 months through 17 years and Pfizer/BioNTech's for children 6 months through 4 years. "So I actually think we need to protect young children, as well as protect everyone with the vaccine and especially protect elders," she said. "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 hospitalisation and death," FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement.Pfizer's vaccine for kids younger than 5 is one-tenth of the adult dose. Three shots are needed: the first two given three weeks apart and the last at least two months later.