The COVID vaccine boosters are now available for kids as young as 5 years old. Here’s what to know.
Children as young as 5 are now eligible, depending on the vaccine.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way Wednesday for children as young as 5 years old to get a bivalent COVID-19 booster shot — so named because it protects against two versions of the coronavirus.
But the exact age limit depends on which company made the booster. And to get the shot, children must have gotten the original vaccine at least two months prior.
Here are the details on which vaccines are available to children, and when:
At what age can kids get a booster?
Children ages 5 years and up now can get the bivalent booster made by Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech.
The Moderna booster is available only to children ages 6 and up.
The age limits are different because of how previous versions of the vaccines were tested. Check with your pharmacy or clinic to see which one is being offered.
What’s in the bivalent vaccines?
Like the original vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the boosters consist of genetic instructions in the form of messenger RNA.
This RNA recipe enables the person to make a harmless fragment of the coronavirus called the spike protein.
The immune system then responds by making antibodies and other defenses that can recognize — and neutralize — the spike, should the person ever encounter it in the context of a real infection.
The first vaccines contained the spike recipe for the original strain of the coronavirus. The boosters are called bivalent because they contain two versions of the spike recipe: the original spike, as well as the one from the BA.4 and BA.5 versions of the omicron virus variant that are now circulating.
Similarly, flu vaccines are described as quadrivalent because they are designed to protect against four versions of the flu virus.
Were the new boosters tested in kids?
No. But they use the same platform as the original vaccines, which now have been given to billions of people and are overwhelmingly safe and effective at reducing the risk of severe disease.
FDA officials say the boosters are simply an updated version of a proven concept, and therefore — much like annual updates of the flu vaccine — they do not require a new round of clinical trials.
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Should I worry about myocarditis?
A small number of people have experienced myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — after getting a COVID vaccine. That may result in a fast or “fluttering” heartbeat.
But the FDA and pediatricians say the risk of this side effect is very low. And physicians say that when these symptoms occur, they generally are mild, clearing up soon. The risk of this and any other side effects pales in comparison with the potential consequences of COVID.