CDC Advisers Recommend COVID Vaccines for Kids as Young as 6 Months Old

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Science advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Saturday to recommend Moderna’s and Pfizer’s COVID vaccines for kids as young as six months old, according to numerous reports. 

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is expected to speedily approve the advisers’ recommendation, and parents could be able to start getting young children their shots early next week. The vote comes a day after the vaccines were OK’d for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration, which said it expected them to protect younger kids from the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.

Pfizer’s vaccines had previously been approved for use in children at least 5 years old, while the Moderna vaccine had only been approved for use in people ages 18 and up. For most small children, the Moderna vaccines will be administered in two shots one month apart, though some kids with certain kinds of immunocompromise could receive a third shot at least one month after they get their second, the FDA said. With the Pfizer vaccine, all kids ages 6 months through 4 years will get three shots, the first two of them three weeks apart, followed by a third dose at least eight weeks later.

The White House has said the vaccinations could start as early as Tuesday, though vaccine availability could vary state to state.

CNET’s Bree Fowler contributed to this report.

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