CMEDIA: One of Moderna’s Spikevax Omicron-targeting bivalent COVID-19 boosters targeting the Omicron variant BA.1. has been approved by Health Canada for use in children and teens aged six to 17 years.
Earlier the BA.1 booster was only approved for people aged 18 and over.
Health Canada approval for the booster’s safety nd effectiveness for use in children and teens under 17 was based on data from clinical trials of Moderna’s original Spikevax vaccineas.
It was reveled by these trials that beginning two weeks after the second dose, the Spikevax vaccine was 100 percent effective in trial participants 12 to 17 years old and more than 94 per cent effective in participants aged six to 11 years old.
These trials also revealed that the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for strain BA.1 further increases the immune response against the variant.
A 25-microgram booster dose for children aged six to 11 years and a 50-microgram booster dose for adolescents 12 to 17 years old would be administered by the vaccine, each following a completed primary series of any of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines or a previous booster.
In a media release issued Friday Shehzad Iqbal, country medical director of Moderna Canada, said, “We are pleased with Health Canada’s authorization of our bivalent booster for children and adolescents and our continued collaboration to provide boosters to help protect all Canadians from current and future COVID-19 variants of concern, especially as this virus continues to circulate across the country and around the world.”
Redness, soreness and swelling at the site of injection, more general temporary symptoms including chills, fatigue, joint pain, headache, mild fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and enlarged lymph nodes are some of the common side effects.
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