Moderna asks US to authorize Covid-19 vaccine for children younger than 6 years

Moderna on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than six years, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of tots by this summer.

Moderna submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration that it hopes will prove two low-dose shots can protect babies, toddlers and preschoolers -albeit not as



effectively during the omicron surge as earlier in the pandemic. Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s Chief Medical Officer said that there is an important unmet medical need here with these youngest kids.

Now, only children ages five years or older can be vaccinated in the U.S, using Pfizer’s vaccine, leaving 18 million younger tots unprotected.