Moderna gets FDA Approval; Pfizer ready for Covid-19 Vaccine for Babies

By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm

Baby getting vaccine

February 7, 2022 – Moderna is the newest vaccine to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, graduating from being sanctioned for emergency use only.  It is the second Covid-19 vaccine to gain FDA approval after Pfizer; and the nod for the vaccine comes after some 200 million doses have been administered in the United States.

On Tuesday, Pfizer who has had several dosages of its vaccines including for adults and young children 5-11 approved by the FDA made an application to get emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine to be administered to children between six months and five years old.

The Vaccination Advisory Task Force of the US Food and Drug Administration said there would be a proper review and no rush to consider the application.

While the thought of the Coronavirus vaccine for children remains a charged topic for many parents, millions want the vaccine for their children.

Documented results of the clinical trials have been passed onto the FDA.

If the proposal by Pfizer to deliver smaller doses, in two shots for the youngest people passes scrutiny, and the trend is that it always does, then it will be on to the Centers for Disease Control, CDC for another round of approvals.

This emergency use authorization, if granted, would mean availability by March says Pfizer.

The announcement has begged the question:  How many children in this age group are actually suffering from Covid19? And how many have died?

According to data available to the United Nations Children’s Fund or UNICEF, from 104 countries worldwide the number of children in this age group is just over 500 million and COVID cases stand at less than five million or .01 per cent.

Less than a thousand children have died from the disease. However, the vaccine has proven to reduce serious illness and could be helpful in protecting immunocompromised children against COVID if the FDA approves.