FDA au­tho­rizes boost­er dose of Pfiz­er and BioN­Tech's Covid-19 vac­cine in 5- to 11-year-olds

The lat­est wave of the pan­dem­ic — marked by Omi­cron and its sub-vari­ants — has seen high­er hos­pi­tal­iza­tion rates for young chil­dren, health agen­cies have ob­served. That’s part of the rea­son why the FDA is au­tho­riz­ing a boost­er shot for kids be­tween 5 and 11 years old.

Reg­u­la­tors on Tues­day OK’d a sin­gle boost­er dose of Pfiz­er and BioN­Tech’s mR­NA vac­cine for chil­dren who re­ceived their pri­ma­ry se­ries with the same vac­cine at least five months ago. By Pfiz­er’s count, that makes more than 8 mil­lion 5- to 11-year-olds el­i­gi­ble for an­oth­er dose.

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