The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends how vaccines are used, also signed off.
Now the Food and Drug Administration has given a green light for elementary school-age kids to get the updated booster doses, too -- one made by Pfizer for 5- to 11-year-olds, and a version from rival Moderna for those as young as 6.
“We want to have the best of both worlds,” Pfizer’s Dr. Bill Gruber, a pediatrician, told The Associated Press. He hopes the updated shots will “re-energize interest in protecting children for the winter.” Only people who’ve gotten their initial vaccinations -- with any of the original-formula versions -- qualify for an updated booster. That means about three-fourths of Americans 12 and older are eligible. As of last weekend, only at least 13 million had gotten an updated booster, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha estimated Tuesday.
“Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19,” Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s vaccine chief, said in a statement. Until now, Moderna’s updated booster was cleared only for adults. FDA just expanded that adult bivalent dosage to 12- to 17-year-olds, and authorized half the dose for kids ages 6 to 11.
But the FDA cleared the COVID-19 booster tweaks without requiring human test results -- just like it approves yearly changes to flu vaccines. That’s partly because both companies already had studied experimental shots tweaked to target prior COVID-19 variants, including an earlier omicron version, and found they safely revved up virus-fighting antibodies.
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