The US Food and Drug Administration convened a panel of experts to recommend a vaccine for children under five years old.
The first shots of Moderna and Pfizer should be available early next week, just over a year and a half after the first COVID vaccines were approved for the elderly.
Michael Nelson, a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia, was one of the experts asked to vote for the meeting.
The FDA has a stamp of approval that is considered the global gold standard.
The high rate of hospitalizations among infants, toddlers, and young children during last winter's Omicron wave underscored an urgent need for vaccine, according to a senior FDA scientist.
He said that they don't want to become numb to the deaths of children because of the large number of older deaths.
We would like to try to do something about vaccine-preventable deaths.
The United States has recorded more deaths in the 0-4 age group in the Pandemic than any other country.
A quarter of the group's hospitalizations required intensive care.
The FDA's analyses of the pharmaceutical companies' vaccines were posted ahead of the meeting.
The immune system is trained to be ready by the vaccines, which deliver genetic code for the coronaviruses spike to human cells. The technology is used in a lot of COVID vaccinations.
Pfizer and Moderna both requested permission from the FDA to give three and two doses of their vaccine to children under the age of four.
Thousands of children were tested for the two vaccines. Similar levels of mild side effects were found to be caused by them as in older age groups.
Pfizer put the efficacy against infections at 80 percent, compared to Moderna's estimate of 51 percent for children six months to two years old and 37 percent for children two to five years old.
The Pfizer figure is a preliminary one. The first shot is given three weeks after the second and the third is given eight weeks later.
Moderna's vaccine should protect against severe disease after two doses, and the company is studying adding a booster that would raise efficacy levels.
Moderna's decision to go with a higher dose of the vaccine is associated with higher levels of infections.
There are 20 million four-year-olds in the United States.
It's not easy to predict severe outcomes when it comes to diseases associated with Obesity, Neurological Disorders and Asthma.
64 percent of the under five hospitalizations happened in patients without comorbidities.
There is a rare but serious condition called multi system inflammatory syndrome in children. Some people can experience chronic symptoms for more than a year.
The matter will go to the CDC for a final say after the FDA acts on the panel's recommendation.
The White House said last week that 10 million shots could be given to patients by the end of the month.
Agence France- Presse.
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