WASHINGTON, June 19, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - US health authorities on Saturday 
cleared the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for children aged five and 
younger, in a move President Joe Biden greeted as a "monumental step" in the 
fight against the virus.

The United States thus became the first country to approve use of the so-
called mRNA vaccines for children as young as six months.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had on Friday authorized their 
emergency use for young children -- who previously had to be at least five to 
receive the vaccine.

But the vaccines required further clearance from the US Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC), the country's leading public health agency -- 
and they received that on Saturday.

"We know millions of parents and caregivers are eager to get their young 
children vaccinated, and with today's decision, they can," CDC Director 
Rochelle Walensky said in a statement Saturday.

Once the green light was received from the FDA, the US government began 
distributing millions of doses of the vaccine across the country.

Biden promised that parents could begin scheduling appointments as early as 
next week to have their young children vaccinated at hospitals, clinics, 
pharmacies and doctor's offices. 

In a statement Saturday, he touted the vaccines as "safe (and) highly 
effective," and said that "for parents all over the country, this is a day of 
relief and celebration."

In coming weeks, with more and more doses shipped out, "every parent who 
wants a vaccine will be able to get one," he said.

The Moderna vaccine, administered in two doses a month apart, will be 
available to children aged six months to five years in reduced doses of 25 
micrograms (half the amount given children aged six to 11, and a quarter the 
dose for those 12 and older).

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is now authorized for children aged six months to 
four years, and will be given in doses of three micrograms per injection -- 
one-tenth the adult dosage.

The difference, however, is that children will receive three shots -- the 
first two three weeks apart, followed by a third eight weeks later.

So, children receiving it will not have full protection for the first few 
months. 

Its side effects, however, have appeared less serious in drug trials than 
those of the Moderna vaccine. 

About a quarter of young children receiving Moderna have developed fevers, 
particularly after the second dose -- but they generally lasted no more than 
a day. 

About 20 million US children are now eligible, by age, for the new vaccines. 

While children have generally proved less vulnerable to Covid-19, some 480 in 
the US in this age group have died of the virus.

So-called long Covid is also a concern, as is multisystem inflammatory 
syndrome, a rare but serious post-viral condition.

Pfizer has said it hopes to apply in early July to the European Medicines 
Agency for authorization to provide its vaccines to children in this youngest 
age group.