Pfizer Inc.’s bivalent vaccine for COVID-19 has received emergency approval for use as a booster in certain infants and toddlers.
Children aged six months to four years can receive the Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine at least two months after completing their first round of vaccinations, the US Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.
Children who have previously received a Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine are not allowed to be bitten again because they are sufficiently protected against the most serious complications of COVID-19, the FDA said.
The clearance fills an inoculation gap for young children who were able to receive a series of three monovalent injections from Pfizer but were not eligible to then get the company’s bivalent booster. Bivalent fire is designed to protect against two variants of Omicron, called BA.4 and BA.5.
From December, the FDA cleared infants and children to receive the bivalent vaccine as the third dose of their first round of COVID vaccinations. The FDA has also cleared Moderna Inc.’s bivalent mRNA vaccines for use in this age group.
Booster use across all age groups has plummeted, with just 16% of Americans receiving the latest round of vaccines targeting Omicron.
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