Coronavirus US: What is the minimum age to get vaccinated?
Children aged from 12 years upwards are now eligible for vaccination in all US states according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Moderna covid-19 vaccine was the latest to show to be effective in adolescents aged 12-17 and showed no new or major safety problems in a clinical trial, the developer said last week, potentially setting the stage for a second vaccine for school-aged children to be authorized in July.
US regulators took about a month to review a similar study from Pfizer/BioNtech, which was authorized for ages 12-15 on May 10. If Moderna gets the same treatment, its authorization would come in early July.
Covid symptoms in children and teens
Most children with covid-19 develop only mild symptoms or no symptoms. Yet children remain at risk of becoming seriously ill, and they can spread the virus. Widely vaccinating 12- to 18-year olds could allow U.S. schools and summer camps to relax masking and social distancing measures suggested by the CDC.
“We are encouraged that mRNA-1273 was highly effective at preventing covid-19 in adolescents," Stéphane Bancel, Moderna's chief executive, said in a statement.
Using a case definition from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which requires only 1 covid-19 symptom, the vaccine was found to be 93% effective, suggesting the vaccine may be protective against cases with milder symptoms, the company said.
In addition to the United States, Pfizer's vaccine is also authorized for use in younger teens aged 12 to 15 in Canada and Algeria.