FDA approves covid vaccines for children aged six months to five years

Covid vaccines for young Americans could be started a few days after the Food and Drug Administration recommends approval of Moderna and Pfizer injections, although some experts warn that they are not necessary for children under the age of five.

On Wednesday, members of the Vaccines and Related Biologicals Advisory Committee met to discuss whether the benefits of Moderna and Pfizer outweigh the risks to America’s 18 million children under age 5.

They gave the green light for both vaccines. Official confirmation is expected soon, and the first shoot is scheduled for next week.

“This recommendation addresses an important unmet need in a young population that is truly being ignored,” said Michael Nelson, professor of medicine at the University of Virginia and one of 21 experts who unanimously said the benefits of the Moderna vaccine outweigh the risks.

Wednesday’s vote is the first phase of the four-part process that sees it reviewed by FDA chiefs on Thursday and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday and Saturday.

Scientists have warned that the risk of children aged six months to five years dying from Covid is negligible and injections are insufficient. Children under the age of 5 in the United States account for only 0.05 percent of more than one million deaths from Covid, while nationally less than a third of children aged five to 11 are eligible for two doses of the Covid vaccine. .

If all vaccines were approved, the United States would be the first country to offer vaccines against the pandemic virus to children under the age of two. Cuba has vaccinated two-year-olds since October, while Chile and China have vaccinated everyone over the age of three.

Domestic Covid cases continue to stabilize at around 107,000 per day, while deaths are down 36% to a seven-day average of 374 and hospitalizations are also coming in as they hold steady.

But new sub-variants of Omicron, scientifically termed BA.4 and BA.5, are spreading rapidly in the United States and are now responsible for three out of 10 infections in some areas. While there is no evidence that they are any more likely to cause serious illness or death, there are concerns that they may cause a backlash in cases.

Covid cases in the United States have stabilized for the sixth consecutive day, currently averaging seven days with about 107,000 new cases per day. Omicron’s new sub-variants are coming as they gain ground in the country

Covid deaths fell 33% yesterday compared to the same period last week, with around 374 recorded each day

Moderna applied for emergency use for its two-dose course for children aged six months to five years. The injection contains 25 micrograms of mRNA, or approximately one-quarter of the adult doses, and is given four weeks apart.

Pfizer is also trying to give the green light to offer a three-dose vaccine to children ages six months to four years old. The vaccine contains 3 mcg, or about 10 percent of that in adult injections.

Both vaccines use mRNA that allows them to produce antigens from Covid, which the virus uses to invade cells, to boost immunity against the pandemic virus.

The jury will vote today whether to approve age group shots and then forward the decision to the heads of the FDA. This group normally follows the recommendations of this expert group. Next, the CDC must also sign the records before they are distributed to the public.

A number of states, including New Jersey, have already begun ordering shots for teens awaiting approval.

Claiming that the approval of the footage would be a “historic milestone”, the White House plans to distribute the footage by June 20.

For months, there has been pressure, especially from parts of the left-wing media, to approve a Covid vaccine for younger children.

But a number of experts have expressed concern about vaccinating children who are at small risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid and have a negligible chance of death.

There is also a fear of myocarditis, a type of heart inflammation that can be detected in one in 20,000 children after vaccination. Girls are less at risk for complications.

While the condition is mild in most cases, scientists are still unsure of its long-term effects.

Earlier this year, Dr. Michael Kurilla, who was previously on the panel, was one of several members who refused to approve Covid vaccines for children aged five to 11.

He told DailyMail.com at the time that while he thought kids with certain conditions that put them at high risk should take the chance, it wasn’t clear if they were approved for healthy kids.

Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is already available to anyone over the age of five.

But CDC statistics show that so far just over 28 percent of children between the ages of five and eleven have the chance. About 60% of young people aged 12 to 17 are now fully vaccinated.

By comparison, about three in four Americans nationwide have now received two Covid vaccines, and about 50 percent have received a booster.

A survey last month found that only 18% of parents would “definitely” vaccinate their children under the age of five. Almost two in five parents said they would refuse to vaccinate their children, or would only do so when necessary.

More than 1,800 parents, 181 of whom had children under the age of five, participated in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s health researcher study.

Moderna was the first to present its vaccine to the committee today, saying it has revealed as many anti-Covid antibodies in children as adults.

He presented data from clinical studies in which 6,600 children under the age of six received the injections and were followed for at least two months after the second dose. This included 3,100 children aged two to five years and 1,911 children aged six to 23 months.

It was later reported that only 15 babies had a temperature above 104F (40C). No other side effects were recorded.

As the Covid wave in the US continues to stabilize, the seven-day average of cases is barely moving for the sixth consecutive day.

20 in all states are seeing their infections decline during the same period about two weeks ago.

Only two of them – Oklahoma and Wyoming – are seeing cases double from the same period about two weeks ago.

Source: Daily Mail