FDA OKs emergency use of Moderna vaccine on adolescents aged 12 to 17

MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the emergency use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on adolescents who are 12 to 17 years old.

FDA Director-General Eric Domingo on Friday announced that FDA gave the Moderna vaccine an emergency use authorization for adolescents aged 12 to 17.

“After a thorough evaluation by our vaccine experts and our regulatory experts sa FDA, in-approve na namin ngayong araw na ito ang paggamit under emergency use authorization ng Moderna vaccines for adolescents aged 12 to 17,” he said in a televised public briefing.

(After a thorough evaluation by our vaccine experts and our regulatory experts sa FDA, we approved today the use of Moderna vaccines under emergency use authorization for adolescents aged 12 to 17.)

Domingo said experts saw the benefits of the vaccine outweighing its risks especially now that the COVID-19 Delta variant is affecting many children.

Moderna is the second COVID-19 vaccine to be given approval for use on adolescents. The FDA earlier allowed the use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds.

Domingo said vaccinators should only watch out for very rare cases of heart inflammation, which is mostly developed in younger males.

The government has yet to include children and adolescents in its vaccination drive as it continues to strive to immunize the majority of the country’s adult population.

However, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has said that the government is eyeing to open the vaccination to the general public, including vulnerable children with comorbidities, by October this year.

The vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac also sought to get approval for its use on children aged 3 to 17 years.

/MUF