Moderna seeks FDA authorization for Covid-19 vaccine for people ages 12 to 17
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is currently authorized for people ages 18 and older.
The company has already filed for younger-age vaccine authorization with regulators in Canada and Europe.
Pfizer received authorization for people as young as 12 to use its coronavirus vaccine on May 10. Days later, it was recommended for use by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky accepted the recommendation.
Although younger people are much less likely to become seriously ill with Covid-19, Walensky warned recently that in the month before the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for people as young as 12, the agency observed “troubling data” about adolescents hospitalized with severe Covid-19. And, younger people can spread the virus to older and more vulnerable people.
The other Covid-19 vaccine available for use in the United States, made by Johnson & Johnson, is currently authorized for for people ages 18 and older.
