An emergency doctor and parent sorts through Covid vaccine options for kids under 5
After months of delays and setbacks, there finally appears to be hope that there will be Covid-19 vaccine authorized for children under 5. Next month, the Food and Drug Administration plans to convene its vaccine advisory panel, known as VRBPAC, to review both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s shots for the youngest kids.
The vaccines are not identical: Moderna’s is two doses of 25 micrograms each, a quarter of Moderna’s adult dose. Its efficacy was between 37% and 51% in a trial against symptomatic Covid during the Omicron wave. Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is three doses of 3 micrograms each, a tenth the adult dose. A preliminary efficacy figure based on only 10 cases seen in the trial was 80%, although that could change once more cases accrue.
