WASHINGTON — Moderna said on Thursday that it asked US regulators to authorise its Covid-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for those under five years old.
"There's no other vaccine, no other therapy, that these little kids can have," Burton said. "If they do judge the data to be sufficient, I think from a public health perspective, offering it to these children as quickly as possible is the best thing." The drugmaker said two doses were around 37 per cent effective in preventing infections in two- to five-year-olds and 51 per cent effective for children aged six months to two years.
It is not clear how many US parents will want to vaccinate their children in the age group. Only 28 per cent of US children in the five to 11 age group are fully vaccinated, and Covid-19 is often milder in children than adults.The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released data on Tuesday showing that 75 per cent of US children had evidence of prior Covid-19 infection in their blood, much of which occurred during the Omicron surge from December through February.