Updated Covid-19 booster shots expanded to children as young as 5

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off Wednesday on the use of updated Covid-19 boosters for children as young as 5. Earlier in the day, the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the shots’ emergency use authorization to include this age group.

The moves mean children and teens can get the boosters from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech as long as they’re at least two months past their primary vaccine series or last booster dose.

Like the boosters that became available for people 12 and older in September, these bivalent boosters target the original coronavirus strain as well as the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants.

“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. Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a news release Wednesday.