Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine generated a "strong immune response" among children between the ages of 6 and 11, the company has announced.
Moderna revealed the interim results from a trial consisting of 4,753 participants between the ages of 6 and 11, and it said the vaccine was well-tolerated and generated a strong immune response, CNN reports. "The majority of adverse events were mild or moderate in severity," the company said. In the trial, two doses were given to children 28 days apart. The children received smaller doses than adults.
This comes as a Food and Drug Administration advisory board is set to meet this week to consider whether to authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for young children. Pfizer recently said the vaccine is over 90 percent effective in kids between the ages of 5 and 11, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, said the vaccine is likely to become available in this age group in November.
Meanwhile, both Modern and Pfizer are set to expand the size of clinical trials for their vaccine in young children as a "precautionary measure designed to detect rare side effects," The New York Times reports. Moderna said Monday it will submit its data to the FDA "in the near term."