The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in June that the organization officially recommends the Moderna Vaccine for children and adolescents.
The recommendation came from the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) following a review of the scientific evidence, according to the CDC. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, CDC Director, also endorsed the ACIP’s recommendation as one way to protect children from the complications COVID can cause.
“Vaccinating this age group can provide greater confidence to families that their children and adolescents participating in childcare, school and other activities will have less risk for serious COVID-19 illness,” said Walenksky.
With this recommendation, parents are now able to choose between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for their kids ages 5-17. Both vaccines have already been recommended for kids 6 months to 4 years old.
In addition to Black adults being more than twice as likely to be hospitalized due to COVID and almost twice as likely to die, Black children are also more likely to be infected with COVID.
While young people are less likely to have fatal complications, Black youth are also twice as likely to have comorbidities, like asthma, than their white counterparts.
The CDC has also been tracking cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), which has been linked to COVID. While the mortality rate for MIS-C remains low, Black and Hispanic children made up 57 percent of cases.
The average age of a patient diagnosed with MIS-C is 9 years old, and over 60 percent of cases were diagnosed in boys.
Georgia is currently the smallest state (by population) to have reported over 400 cases to the CDC.