Moderna has said it asked US regulators to authorise its Covid-19 vaccine for children under the age of six. If approved, it would make it the first jab against the coronavirus available for those under five years old.
The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech is authorised for children five and older. But their trial results for two to four-year-olds showed a weaker immune response than in adults, forcing the study to be extended to test a third dose.
Pfizer has said that data would come this month. "This does represent an important area of unmet need," Moderna Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton said. "There's no other vaccine, no other therapy, that these little kids can have," Mr Burton said. "If they do judge the data to be sufficient, I think from a public health perspective, offering it to these children as quickly as possible is the best thing." Moderna released trial data in March showing that its vaccine was safe and generated a similar immune response in young children as for adults, which was the goal of the study.
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which has been shown to evade vaccine immunity compared with earlier versions, was predominant during the pediatric trial.