Moderna CEO expects COVID-19 vaccine to be available for kids as young as 5 by early fall

Moderna sign.
(Image credit: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel expects the company's COVID-19 vaccine will be available for kids as young as 5 by early fall. "I think it's going to be early fall, just because we have to go down in age very slowly and carefully," he said Monday during a virtual event hosted by Clubhouse.

Moderna is currently testing its vaccine on children, and Bancel thinks the data will become available sometime in September, CBS Boston reports. Children are typically at lower risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19, but those with underlying health conditions are more likely to be hospitalized. As of now, children as young as 12 can receive Pfizer's vaccine, which uses the same mRNA technology as Moderna, and the company is also running a trial for the 5-11 age group. Read more at CBS Boston.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.