The U.S. on Wednesday authorized updated COVID-19 boosters for children as young as five, seeking to expand protection ahead of an expected winter wave.
Tweaked boosters rolled out for Americans 12 and older last month, doses modified to target today's most common and contagious omicron relative. While there wasn't a big rush, federal health officials are urging that people seek the extra protection ahead of holiday gatherings.
These combination or “bivalent” boosters are designed to broaden immune defenses so that people are better protected against serious illness whether they encounter an omicron relative in the coming months -- or a different mutant that's more like the original virus. Parents should know “there is no concern from the safety perspective with the bivalent vaccines, whether Moderna or Pfizer,” Newland added.
This age group will get kid-size doses of the new omicron-targeting booster - and they can receive it at least two months after their last dose, whether that was their primary vaccination series or an earlier booster, the FDA said. For the updated booster made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, 5- to 11-year-olds would get a third of the dose that anyone 12 and older already receives. Pfizer said it could ship up to 6 million kid-sized doses within a week of authorization, in addition to ongoing shipments of adult-sized doses.
Exactly how much protection does an updated COVID-19 booster shot offer? That's hard to know. Pfizer and Moderna are starting studies in young children.
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