FDA Authorizes Updated Covid Booster Shots For Kids 5 to 11 Years Old
A company that provides the coronavirus vaccine has reached a deal with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to give kids 5 to 11years old new doses of an experimental vaccine that was approved last year.
The company, ImmunoFusion, will begin administering the new vaccine to kids 5 to 11 years old this week to see whether the vaccine is safe and effective.
The FDA has approved the vaccination for children ages 5 to 11 years old because it has not been proven to cause serious side effects.
The deal means the company will be resuming two experimental vaccines that are given to kids age 5 to 10 years old for the treatment of chronic diseases. One includes the experimental vaccine for the treatment of a severe version of the measles virus, the other is a vaccine for the treatment of a rare disease.
ImmunoFusion announced the deal Monday night at a press conference in Washington. ImmunoFusion will be the first company to receive the expanded-access program, which allows small companies to obtain a large dose of human growth hormone through the agency for research and development, according to a statement released by the company.
The deal came under intense scrutiny last week when a California health official said he had been told by other public health officials that children with autism are not the only victims of the coronavirus in the state and that children with the condition are dying because of treatment and other issues.
The FDA has not released the specific numbers of children who have died as a result of the coronavirus, but the agency did cite the California official, who said he was “informed that some asymptomatic children with chronic illnesses are dying unnecessarily.”
The CDC on Monday said it is monitoring the situation in California as it has with all states. The data from the CDC “strongly suggest the deaths in California are not a result of COVID-19 but are a result of chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease,” a CDC epidemiologist said in the statement