Health Authorities Approve Updated COVID-19 Boosters for Kids

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the use of updated COVID-19 boosters for children as young as 5.

Key Quotes: "Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities," risk of COVID-19 exposure is rising, said the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in a statement.

For Context: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 40,700 child COVID-19 cases were reported last week, compared to 90,600 cases reported September 1. Between 13-15 million people have received updated COVID-19 boosters since the new rollout began last month, which is less than 10% of those eligible.

Where the Media Agreed: The newly-approved shots were covered by news sources across the political spectrum.

Where the Media Disagreed: CNN highlighted an analysis that "found that if more people in the United States get their booster by the end of the year, about 90,000 Covid-19 deaths could be prevented this fall and winter." Conversely, the Daily Mail highlighted how "just 6% of Americans 12 and older who were eligible for the bivalent boosters had come forward for one," and how some experts reject the push to give booster shots to kids who "are already at a vanishingly low risk of death."

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday recommended a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for children as young as 5, aimed at the Omicron variant, hours after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the shot.

The big picture: The announcement comes as the White House continues to monitor a rise in the COVID-19 subvariants emerging and evolving throughout the world.

Children as young as five are to be offered the bivalent Covid booster vaccine ahead of the winter.

The  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended five to 11-year-olds get a single dose of Pfizer's updated shot.

Children aged six and above can get Moderna's bivalent booster. Both new vaccines offer better protection against the new Omicron variants than previous jabs.

Officials are now 'encouraging' parents to get their children vaccinated before schools go back from the fall break.

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.