The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it has authorized for emergency use updated bivalent (two-strain) COVID boosters for children as young as 5, and shortly after, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced its recommendation, which paves the way for the shots to be given.In global COVID developments, cases on a whole continue to fall slowly, but some countries in Europe and Asia are seeing the start of new waves.Aiming to protect kids this winterIn its announcement, the FDA said the emergency use authorization (EUA) extension is for the updated booster to be given at least 2 months following the primary series or the last booster dose.
The Moderna booster is approved for kids as young as 6 years old, and the Pfizer version is now authorized for kids down to 5 years old.The new booster is designed to shore up waning protection and target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants.In the FDA statement, Peter Marks, MD, PhD, who directs the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said kids' return to school and people resuming prepandemic behaviors and activities increases the risk of virus exposure and spread.
He said though children's illness tends to be less severe, throughout COVID waves, more children have gotten sick and been hospitalized.A few days ago in its weekly update, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said COVID cases in kids for the week ending Oct 6 slightly increased from the previous week, with nearly 40,700 cases reported."Children may also experience long-term effects, even following initially mild disease," Marks said, as he also urged parents to consider the primary series for their kids, followed by the updated booster.Just hours after the