(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized Omicron-tailored COVID-19 booster shots from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc for children, a move that will boost the government’s fall vaccination campaign.
Moderna’s bivalent vaccine is authorized for those aged six and above, while Pfizer’s updated shot can be administered in children of five years of age and above.
The redesigned bivalent booster shots from both Moderna and Pfizer target the original version as well as the currently circulating BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron.
Following the latest authorization, Pfizer’s monovalent vaccine will no longer be allowed for administration as a booster dose for children between 5 and 11 years.
(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shinjini Ganguli)
