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FDA Authorizes Bivalent COVID-19 Booster for Kids 5-11

The new booster will combat the original virus, omicron and the BA.5 variant.

By Karly Wood October 12, 2022

The new booster will combat the original virus, omicron and the BA.5 variant

The FDA has announced approval of both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines as a booster for five to 11-year-olds. The vaccines will now head to the CDC for approval, where it’s assumed the final stamp will come quickly.

“Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19. Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D. in the FDA’s announcement.

Now that the bivalent vaccine has been approved, the monovalent version of Pfizer’s vaccine is no longer authorized as a booster for this age group. Instead, both it and the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will be used only for primary series administration for children six months and older.

“While it has largely been the case that COVID-19 tends to be less severe in children than adults, as the various waves of COVID-19 have occurred, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized. Children may also experience long-term effects, even following initially mild disease,” states Dr. Marks. “We encourage parents to consider primary vaccination for children and follow-up with an updated booster dose when eligible.”

The vaccine is considered Bivalent because it protects against multiple variants (specifically BA.4 and BA.5) of the coronavirus that has plagued the world since 2020. According to the CDC, those two variants account for over 80% of total variants in the United States of of now.

Once the vaccine is given final approval by the CDC, it will quickly become available at doctors offices and pharmacies––just in time to get one before the winter hits.