Moderna announced Wednesday that its COVID-19 vaccine is effective in babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
The company said two doses of its 25-microgram COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months through 5 years old provided a similar immune response to two 100-microgram doses for adults ages 18 to 25.
Each dose will be administered to children 28 days apart.
The data is based on a group of 6,900 children ages 6 months through 5 years old. According to Moderna, those who experienced reactions were mild or moderate and were more frequent after the second shot.
According to the company, there were no deaths and no cases of myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, pericarditis, inflammation of the heart lining reported.
Moderna said it will ask the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the use of the vaccine among this younger age group in the coming weeks.They also announced that its findings have initiated a submission to the FDA for emergency use authorization of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6-11 years old, who will receive two shots of a larger 50-microgram version of the vaccine.
Moderna also said it provided the FDA with additional follow-up data on its vaccine for children ages 12 to 17. Children that age would get two shots of a larger 100-microgram version of the vaccine.
The company's competitor Pfizer currently offers doses for school-age children and full-strength shots for those 12 and older. It is testing smaller doses for children under 5.
Those results are expected by early April.
