The American company Moderna said Thursday that it has applied for authorization in the United States to give its vaccine against COVID -19 to children between 6 months and 5 years old.
This is the last age group not to be vaccinated in this country as well as in many others. The file must now be reviewed by the American Medicines Agency (FDA), whose decisions are often determined by the world.
” [Ce vaccin] will safely protect these children from SARS-CoV-2, which is crucial in our ongoing fight against COVID-19, and will be especially welcomed by parents. “
The effectiveness of the vaccine against the symptoms of the infection is 51% for infants 6 months to less than 2 years old, and 37% for children 2 to 5 years old, Moderna said.
These results are somewhat different from the initial data published in March by the company, because in this case they were only based on infections confirmed by the PCR test.
The dose of this vaccine for infants and young children is reduced to 25 micrograms per injection (against 100 for adults). It is also expected to be given in two doses.
Application filing will be completed next week, the company said, which said similar applications are In progress along with other regulatory agencies around the world.
In the United States, the Moderna vaccine is currently only licensed for people 18 years of age and older.
Pfizer must also file for approval soon for its own vaccine in children aged 6 months to 6 years, but the timeline has been delayed by disappointing early results, which has led to The company decides to try a series with the initial three doses and not just two.
In fact, for these very young children, a dose of only 3 micrograms per bite was chosen by Pfizer-BioNTech, but the immune response triggered after just two doses was not enough.
Source: Radio-Canada
