US FDA advisers back COVID vaccines for children as young as 6 months - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.

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Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday unanimously recommended the agency authorise COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE for millions of the youngest American children.

The committee’s recommendation is an important step toward immunising children under the age of 5 and as young as 6 months old who have not yet been eligible for the shots.The US government is planning for a June 21 start to its under-5 vaccination campaign should the vaccines receive FDA authorisation, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said last week.

“I think we have to be careful that we don’t become numb to the number of pediatric deaths because of the overwhelming number of older deaths,” FDA official Peter Marks told the panel. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was authorized for children ages 5 to 11 in October, but only about 29% of that group is fully vaccinated.

The two vaccines are not interchangeable. Moderna’s vaccine for children under 6 is a two-dose, 25 microgram vaccine, with the shots given about four weeks apart.

 

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