FDA Authorizes Covid Vaccine in Young Children

FDA has amended the emergency use authorizations for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine and Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to allow their use in children as young as six months of age.

The Moderna vaccine is administered as a primary series of two doses, one month apart, to individuals six months through 17 years of age. The vaccine is also authorized to provide a third dose at least one month following the second dose for certain immunocompromised individuals, according to an agency release. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is administered as a primary series of three doses in which the initial two doses are administered three weeks apart followed by a third dose given at least eight weeks after the second dose in individuals six months through four years of age.

FDA says that both companies have submitted plans to continue monitoring the safety of the vaccines as they are used under the EUAs, including monitoring for rare occurrences of myocarditis and pericarditis.