Health Experts Support The Use Of Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine For Children Age 6-17

Illustration of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons/Governor Tom Wolf)

JAKARTA - United States health experts support the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6-17 years, while reviewing its use for children under 5 years of age.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory on Tuesday unanimously recommended that the agency allow Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for children and teens ages 6 to 17.

About 77 million people in the United States have received at least two doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has long been available to people 18 years of age and older.

An external expert committee is scheduled to consider Moderna injections for children under 6 years, as well as Pfizer and BioNTech COVID vaccines for children under 5 years, the youngest 6 months, on Wednesday.

There is unlikely to be significant immediate demand for the Moderna vaccine for children aged 6 to 17 years. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was passed for children ages 5 to 11 in October, and approval for teens preceded it by several months.

Yet only about 30 percent of those ages 5 to 11 and 60 percent of children ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated in the United States, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"I want to give parents as many options as possible, and let them make decisions about this for their children," said committee member and University of California Berkeley professor Dr. Arthur Reingold at the meeting, reported by Reuters, June 15.

The FDA, which generally follows the recommendations of its advisers but is not obligated to do so, is likely to soon ratify the Moderna vaccine for ages 6-17. The CDC also needs to recommend the use of vaccines. An advisory committee is scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday.

There has long been concern that the Moderna vaccine, given at a higher dose than the Pfizer/BioNTech injection, could cause a type of heart inflammation known as myocarditis and pericarditis at higher rates, especially in younger men.

Several European countries have restricted the use of the Moderna vaccine to younger age groups, after surveillance showed it was linked to a higher risk of heart inflammation. Meanwhile, the FDA is delaying its review of the injection to assess the risk of myocarditis.

US regulators presented data at Tuesday's meeting showing the Moderna vaccine may have a higher risk of heart inflammation in young men. But said the findings were inconsistent across various security databases and not statistically significant, which means it could be due to coincidence.