Children ages 5 to 11 are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster aimed at both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the boosters Wednesday morning from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave a thumbs up on the shots several hours later.
The vaccines should soon become available at area pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices. Children are less likely than adults to become severely ill and die of COVID-19 infections or to suffer from long COVID-19. But that risk isn’t zero. Because COVID-19 vaccines have been found to be extremely safe, pediatricians strongly recommend that nearly all children receive the two-dose primary series as well as a booster.
“Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19,” said Dr. Peter Marks, who heads the FDA’s vaccine division, in a statement. “We encourage parents to consider primary vaccination for children and follow up with an updated booster dose when eligible.”