03/23/2022

Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine for Young Children is Safe

However, some are questioning its efficacy

Vaccine maker Moderna announced Wednesday its two-dose pediatric coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine was safe in young children, toddlers and babies in a study. But the effectiveness of the shot in children 6 months to 5 years old was more of a mixed picture because of the challenge presented by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

In a trial of the vaccine, the shot met the main criteria the company and regulators had defined for success, generating immune defenses equivalent to or better than those that protected young adults before the omicron variant emerged, according to a Moderna news release.

But in the face of omicron, the immune defenses mustered by two doses in adults were less robust, particularly in preventing infections — and the same pattern was seen in children, with vaccine efficacy of about 40 percent.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.