After receiving a second Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Friday, June 25, 2021, Erincy hugs Avery 6 and Aidan 11 with her husband Stephen.
Sarah Reingewirtz | MediaNews Group | Getty Images
According to data released Wednesday by the company, Moderna’s double-dose Covid vaccine is about 44% effective in preventing Omicron infections in children aged 6 months to under 2 years, and children aged 2 to 5 years. It was about 38% effective.
According to biotechnology companies, no child developed a serious Covid illness, and most of the breakthrough cases were mild. In a statement, Stephane Bancel, CEO, said Moderna will request the Food and Drug Administration to grant emergency licenses to children under the age of six as soon as possible.
The Moderna vaccine is currently approved by the FDA for adults over the age of 18. Moderna also requested the FDA to approve a vaccine for children aged 6 to 11 years, the company announced Wednesday.
Highly mutated Omicron variants significantly reduce vaccine efficacy from the highest benchmark of about 94% when adults were first given injections in December 2020, and many more breakthroughs. Caused an infectious disease. However, Moderna said the efficacy of the vaccine against Omicron for children under the age of 6 is consistent with the vaccine currently approved for adults over the age of 18.
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Children under the age of 6 were given two 25 microgram vaccines at 28-day intervals. This is much less than the 100 microgram injection given to an adult. Children aged 6 to 11 years receive 50 micrograms twice.
Moderna said no new safety concerns have been identified for children under the age of six. According to the company, no deaths or cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or multisystem inflammatory syndrome have been reported. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, myocarditis and pericarditis are a type of heart inflammation that has been observed at a high rate, primarily after two vaccinations of Moderna and Pfizer in young men.
Moderna stated that side effects in infants are mild and are frequently reported after the second dose. About 17% of children under the age of 2 developed a fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38 degrees Celsius, while just over 14% of children aged 2 to 5 developed such a fever. According to the company, fever above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius, was observed only in a few children of each age group.
Data on the youngest child are from a wider range of pediatric clinical trials in 11,700 children under the age of 12 in the United States and Canada. The study included 2,500 children under the age of 2 and 4,200 children aged 2-5. This study was conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Health.
Children under the age of 5 are the only remaining age group in the United States and are not eligible for Covid vaccination. According to the CDC, Covid hospitalizations for children in this age group were five times higher during the Omicron peak in January compared to last year’s delta waves.
Last month, the FDA sought to accelerate approval of the first two doses of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines for children under the age of five in response to Omicron, but the process was postponed because the data did not meet expectations. I did. Pfizer and BioNTech will submit data on the third dose for this age group during April.