FDA approves Omicron-fighting Covid vaccine for children as young as 6 months

A medical worker prepares the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine booster to be given to children 12-15 years old at a hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. – AFP photo

NEW YORK (Dec 9): The Omicron-fighting Covid-19 vaccine is now approved for children aged six months and older.

Children under age five will receive the bivalent booster, the German Press Agency, dpa quoted the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“We encourage parents and caregivers of those eligible to consider doing so — especially as we head into the holidays and winter months where more time will be spent indoors,” FDA Commissioner Robert M Califf said Thursday.

“As this virus has changed, and immunity from previous Covid-19 vaccination wanes, the more people who keep up to date on Covid-19 vaccinations, the more benefit there will be for individuals, families and public health by helping prevent severe illnesses, hospitalisations, and deaths.”

The new US authorisation includes bivalent shots manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. Children who received the initial two Moderna shots can get a single bivalent booster under Thursday’s new guidelines.

Children who haven’t gotten a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine will now be given the bivalent booster, but those who already received three shots are not yet eligible for the Omicron-focused shot, the FDA said.

“Vaccines remain the best defence against the most devastating consequences of disease caused by the currently circulating omicron variant, such as hospitalisation and death,” Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research. — Bernama

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