Pfizer says three small doses of its COVID-19 vaccine protect kids under 5. The company released preliminary results on Monday and said it plans to give the data to U.S. regulators later this week. It's the latest step toward letting the littlest kids get the shots. The 18 million tots under 5 are the only group in the U.S. not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. The Food and Drug Administration has begun evaluating data from rival Moderna. That company hopes to offer two kid-sized shots by summer. The FDA has set tentative dates next month for its scientific advisers to publicly debate data from Pfizer and Moderna.
While the vaccine effectiveness likely could change somewhat, "all of this is very positive for those parents who are looking forward to having a vaccine for their younger children in the coming months," said Dr. William Moss of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was not part of the study.
What's next? FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks has pledged the agency will "move quickly without sacrificing our standards" in evaluating tot-sized doses from both Pfizer and Moderna.Moderna asked FDA to authorize two shots, each containing a quarter of the dose given to adults.
That's something Moderna plans to study, and Moss said he didn't expect the question would hold up FDA authorization of the first two doses. The FDA has tentatively planned for its expert panel to consider Moderna's vaccine for older kids a day before taking up the question of shots for the littlest.