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U.S. Food and Drug Administration and FDA have expanded the target of booster vaccination from 16 years old or older to 12 years old or older. The interval between booster shots was also shortened from the current 6 months to 5 months.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won reports from New York.
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FDA-approved booster shot for children 12 years and older is a Pfizer vaccine.
Pfizer Boostershots are also available to children aged 5 to 11 years old if they have immune system problems, which will be implemented soon after further approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week.
Experts welcomed.
In the case of Omicron, the symptoms are mild, but unlike the conventional delta mutation, children are more likely to be infected, so the booster shot will help.
[Scott Gottlieb/Former FDA Commissioner: Omicron appears to infect the upper respiratory tract (such as the nose, mouth and throat) rather than the lower (such as the bronchi and lungs). It's better for most adults, but it can be a problem for young children who are prone to upper respiratory tract infections.] The
FDA has also reduced the interval between booster shots from six months after the second dose to five months.
These measures come as the spread of the coronavirus in the United States becomes more and more serious, and there is a forecast that the number of new infections, which currently exceeds 400,000 a day, could rise to 1 million soon.
The problem is that the number of inpatients is increasing.
Although the number of hospitalized patients is still less than when the corona peaked earlier this year, there are concerns that medical institutions that are already suffering from a manpower shortage may be paralyzed if the number of confirmed cases continues to increase.