The CDC Panel recommends Moderna’s double-dose Covid vaccine for children ages 6-17

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to clear modernTwo doses of Covid for kindergarten to high school children for public distribution this week after a panel of independent vaccine expert agencies unanimously voted to recommend shots on Thursday- 19 vaccines.

The Commission approved the Moderna vaccine for children aged 6 to 17 years after reviewing its safety and efficacy at a public meeting. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Wallensky will approve the recommendations later on Thursday, the final step before pharmacies and clinics begin managing shots.

CDC Approved Moderna vaccine for infants through preschoolers, 6 months to 5 years old on Saturday. Vaccination for that age group began this week.

Moderna’s older children’s shots do not immediately impact US vaccination campaigns, except to offer parents another option. Previously, only Pfizer vaccines were approved for kindergarten to high school students, but intake was sluggish. Two-thirds of children aged 5 to 11 and 30% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 have not yet been vaccinated with Covid.

According to the CDC, more than 600 children in these age groups died of covid during a pandemic and more than 45,000 were hospitalized. During the pandemic, about 11 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 caught Covid.

Children aged 6 to 11 receive a small modeler shot of 50 micrograms, while adolescents aged 12 to 17 receive the same dose as an adult of 100 micrograms.

Moderna initially asked the Food and Drug Administration more than a year ago to vaccinate adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, but other countries have linked the company’s injections to an increased risk of heart inflammation and myocarditis. Regulators have postponed, after expressing concern that they may be, from Pfizer’s vaccine.

Since the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine was only approved for adults until this month, it is not possible to make a direct comparison in the United States of heart inflammation in children who received Pfizer or Moderna injections. However, a comparison of young adult Pfizer shots and Moderna shots shows that the incidence of myocarditis is slightly higher in Moderna recipients, although the data are inconsistent across different surveillance systems in the United States.

“Some evidence suggests that the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis may be higher after Moderna than after Pfizer, but the findings are consistent across all US surveillance systems. I’m not doing that, “Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a staff member of the CDC Vaccine Safety Unit, told the Commission.

The available US data on myocarditis in children aged 6 to 17 years is based on the side effects reported from Pfizer’s vaccine, as Moderna shots have not yet been approved for this age group. Pfizer and Moderna shots use similar messenger RNA technology.

The CDC identified 635 cases of myocarditis in children aged 5 to 17 years after vaccination out of 54 million doses of Pfizer. The risk of myocarditis after Pfizer vaccination is highest after the second vaccination of boys aged 12 to 17 years. After the second dose of Pfizer vaccine, boys aged 5 to 11 years have a slight increase in myocarditis, but much less than adolescents.

According to CDC data, boys aged 16 to 17 years reported 75 cases of myocardial inflammation per million seconds of Pfizer dose, and boys aged 12 to 15 years reported about 46 cases of myocardial inflammation. Boys aged 5 to 11 years reported 2.6 cases of myocarditis per million doses of Pfizer.

People who develop myocarditis after vaccination usually stay in the hospital for several days as a precautionary measure before returning home. According to a medical provider’s CDC survey, most patients recovered completely 90 days after diagnosis.

CDC is Myocarditis is higher in Covid infections than in vaccination.. Myocarditis in children is usually caused by a viral infection.

CDC official Dr. Sara Oliver said the risk of myocarditis after vaccination with Moderna in children and adolescents is unknown, but data from adults may be at higher risk than Pfizer shots. It suggests that. However, Oliver said extending the interval between the first and second doses to eight weeks could reduce the risk of myocarditis, based on data shared by Canadian health authorities.

The most common side effects in children aged 6 to 17 years during Moderna’s clinical trials were injection site pain, malaise, headache, chills, myalgia, and nausea. There were no confirmed cases of myocarditis during the study.

It is unclear how effective Shot is against Omicron variants. Clinical trials were conducted during a period when other Covid strains were dominant. Shots of adolescents aged 12 to 17 were about 90% effective in preventing disease with the original Covid strain and alpha variant, while shots for children aged 6 to 11 were 76 in preventing disease with the delta variant. It was more than% effective. For review of clinical trial data by the Food and Drug Administration.

However, the Covid vaccine has so many mutations that it struggles to combat the currently predominant Omicron mutants. Third Shot has significantly enhanced protection for other age groups. Moderna is using data expected later this summer to study booster shots for children targeting Omicron.

Dr. Doran Fink, a senior FDA vaccine officer, said: