A Jackson resident, Miss, receives a Pfizer booster shot from a nurse at a vaccination site on Feb.
Rogelio V. Solis / AP
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Rogelio V. Solis / AP
A Jackson resident, Miss, receives a Pfizer booster shot from a nurse at a vaccination site on Feb.
Rogelio V. Solis / AP
On Wednesday, the United States allowed updated COVID-19 boosters for children under the age of 5, seeking to extend protection against an expected winter wave.
The tweaked booster was rolled out to Americans 12 and older last month, dosages modified to target today’s most common and contagious omicron relative. While there’s no rush, federal health officials are encouraging people to seek additional protection against holiday gatherings.
Now, the Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to elementary school-age children to also get updated booster doses – one dose made by Pfizer for 5 to 11-year-olds and one session. version from rival Moderna for young children. like 6.
There’s one more step before parents can bring their child in for a new shot: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends how the vaccine is given, must be signed.
Americans may be tired of repeated calls to get a boost against COVID-19 but experts say the updated photos have one advantage: They contain half a targeted recipe targets the original strain of coronavirus and provides half protection against the predominant BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions.
These combination or “bivalent” boosters are designed to expand immune defenses so that people are better protected against serious illness whether they encounter an omicron relative in the following days. next month – or another mutation more similar to the original virus.
“We want the best of both worlds,” Pfizer pediatrician Bill Gruber told The Associated Press. He hopes the updated photos will “rekindle interest in child protection during winter.”
Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Washington University in St.
Parents should be aware “there are no safety concerns with dual-value vaccines, whether Moderna or Pfizer,” Newland added.
Only people who received the original vaccine – with any version of the original formulation – are eligible to receive the updated booster vaccine. That means about three-quarters of Americans 12 and older are eligible. White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr Ashish Jha estimated on Tuesday.
Facing the boredom of pediatricians, getting children to get their first vaccinations is even more difficult. Less than a third of children aged 5 to 11 years have received two main doses and will therefore be eligible for a new booster dose.
This age group should receive the child-size dose of the up-to-date booster — and they can get it at least two months after their last dose, whether that’s the primary shot or the previous booster, the FDA said. said.
Pfizer says it can ship up to 6 million pediatric doses within a week of authorization, in addition to ongoing shipments of adult dosages.
So far, Moderna’s updated booster has only been removed for adults. The FDA’s action Wednesday authorized the booster for adolescents as well as children under the age of 6.
For even younger children, the first vaccinations aren’t open to the under-5 age group until mid-June – and it will be a few more months before regulators decide if they’re eligible. whether a booster injection is required using the updated formulation.
Exactly how much protection does an updated COVID-19 booster shot provide? That is hard to know. Pfizer and Moderna are starting studies in young children.
But the FDA has removed COVID-19-enhanced tweaks that don’t require results of human trials — just like it approved annual changes to the flu vaccine. That’s in part because both companies studied test footage that was fine-tuned to target earlier COVID-19 variants, including the earlier omicron version, and found that they were safely recover antiviral antibodies.
“It’s clearly a better vaccine, an important upgrade over what we’ve had before,” Jha said.
Jha urges adults to get their updated vaccinations in October – just like they get a flu shot – or at least before holiday gatherings with high-risk family and friends. People who have recently taken COVID-19 still need boosters but can wait about three months, he added.
