NEW YORK: US health advisers on Saturday recommended COVID-19 vaccines for infants, toddlers and preschoolers — the last group without the shots.
The advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously decided that coronavirus vaccines should be made available to children as young as 6 months, offering protection from hospitalizations, deaths and possible long-term complications that are still not clearly understood.
“We’ve taken a major step forward today,’’ said Dr. Oliver Brooks, one of the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The final signoff was expected later in the day from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
While the Food and Drug Administration OKs vaccines, it’s the CDC that decides who should get them.
The government has been gearing up for the start of the shots early next week, with millions of doses ordered for distribution to doctors, hospitals and community health clinics around the country.
Roughly 18 million kids will be eligible, but it remains to be seen how many will ultimately get the vaccines. Less than a third of children ages 5 to 11 have done so since vaccination opened up to them last November.
Two brands — Pfizer and Moderna — got the green light on Friday from the FDA and Saturday from the advisory panel. The vaccines use the same technology but are being offered at different dose sizes and number of shots for the youngest kids.
Pfizer’s vaccine is for 6 months through 4 years. The dose is one-tenth of the adult dose, and three shots are needed. The first two are given three weeks apart, and the last at least two months later.
Moderna’s is two shots, each a quarter of its adult dose, given about four weeks apart for kids 6 months through 5. The FDA also approved a third dose, at least a month after the second shot, for kids with immune conditions that make them more vulnerable to serious illness.
