(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc (NYSE 🙂 and its German partner BioNTech on Monday sought approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a specially designed COVID-19 vaccine from Omicron for children ages 5 to 11.
The app comes only a few days later Moderna (NASDAQ 🙂 I also applied for FDA authorization of the shot targeting omicron for adolescents ages 12-17 and children ages 6-11.
The applications represent a step toward vaccinating children with a so-called bivalent vaccine, which targets both the original strain of the virus and the circulating BA.4 and BA.5 sub variants of Omicron.
The rollout of bivalent boosters for older age groups is off to a slower start in the United States than the first boosters launched last year, with 4.4 million doses given so far.
Earlier this month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it expects COVID-19 vaccine boosters that target circulating variants of the virus to be available for children ages 5-11 by mid-October.
