FINALLY

FDA Authorizes Kids as Young as 6 Months to Be Vaccinated Against COVID

Emergency-use authorization comes for young children, who could get either the Moderna of Pfizer vaccines, the FDA said Friday. It awaits CDC approval.

Almost two and a half years into the pandemic, vaccines for children as young as six months old have finally received emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In a Friday announcement, the FDA greenlit both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children age six months to 17. Previously, the Moderna jab had been authorized for adults only, and the Pfizer jab had been approved for kids over 5 only. The FDA said the authorization came after “rigorous and comprehensive” evaluation of the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness. “As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf. All U.S. states except for Florida have pre-ordered vaccine doses for kids under 5. The CDC is expected to weigh in on the vaccines for the littlest kids early next week.