Moderna asks FDA to authorize omicron Covid boosters for children as young as 6 years old

Following CDC approval for vaccination of children aged 6 months to 5 years, 4 year-old Eleanor Kahn sits with her father Alex, as nurse Jillian Mercer administers the Moderna vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California, U.S., June 21, 2022.

Moderna wants the FDA to approve its omicron booster shots for children.

The FDA authorized requests were for adolescents ages 12 to 17 and children ages 6 to 11. The FDA will be asked to clear the shots for the youngest children later this year.

According to a document published Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects children to be eligible for omicron boosters by mid- October. October 19 and 20 are the days when the vaccine advisory committee will meet.

Pfizer told the CDC advisory committee that it expects the FDA to approve omicron boosters for children in October.

Moderna's omicron boosters were approved by the U.S. health regulators. People over the age of 12 were authorized for Pfizer's booster.

The original strain of Covid that emerged in China in late 2019? The new boosters are expected to provide superior protection against disease and infections because they target the most common omicron subvariant.

The old vaccines that were designed to fight the original Covid strain are no longer effective due to the fact that the virus has changed a lot. The effectiveness of the original shots is starting to decline.

Public health officials are not sure how effective the omicron BA.5 boosters will be in the real world. Data from human clinical trials were not included in the shots' authorization.