The U.S. is about to offer updated COVID-19 booster shots to kids as young as 5
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.There’s one more step before parents can bring their kids in for the new shot: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends how vaccines are used, must sign off.
The updated boosters are “extremely important” for keeping kids healthy and in school, said Dr. Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Washington University in St. Louis. To pediatricians’ chagrin, getting children their first vaccinations has been tougher. Less than a third of 5- to 11-year-olds have had their two primary doses and thus would qualify for the new booster.
While children tend to get less seriously ill than adults, “as the various waves of COVID-19 have occurred, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized,” Marks said. As for even younger tots, first vaccinations didn’t open for the under-5 age group until mid-June -- and it will be several more months before regulators decide if they’ll also need a booster using the updated recipe.
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