FDA au­tho­rizes bi­va­lent Covid boost­ers for chil­dren 6 months and up

Kids 6 months and old­er are now el­i­gi­ble to re­ceive Omi­cron-spe­cif­ic boost­ers for Covid-19, as US vac­ci­na­tion rates among chil­dren re­main low.

The FDA on Thurs­day ex­tend­ed the emer­gency use au­tho­riza­tions for both Mod­er­na and Pfiz­er’s up­dat­ed bi­va­lent vac­cines, which in­clude mR­NA com­po­nents of the orig­i­nal coro­n­avirus strain and the BA.4 and BA.5 lin­eages.

The Omi­cron BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 strains are cur­rent­ly dom­i­nant in the US, ac­count­ing for more than 60% of all cas­es, ac­cord­ing to the CDC’s track­er.

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