When will kids under 5 be able to get Covid vaccines? Top health expert answers

With a spike in Covid-19 cases due to the new strain Omicron, public health officials in US say that coronavirus vaccines, which are available for children as young as 5 years old, can provide an important layer of protection for kids.

Speaking to Los Angeles Times, Dr William Hartman, the principal investigator of one of the Moderna pediatric Covid-19 vaccine trials, says it's reasonable to believe emergency use authorization for children 6 months to 5 years old could be granted in late March or early April.

Dr Hartman said it's "highly possible" Moderna will reach that point before Pfizer does. Hartman, who runs the Hartman Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, expects initial data within roughly the next month.

US-based top infectious disease expert Dr Faheem Younus shared a post with the caption: “COVID Vaccinations for children aged 6-months to 5 years may get approved before June 2022."

Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc expects the latest results from a clinical trial for kids under the age of 5 of the coronavirus vaccine it developed with Germany's BioNTech SE by April.

"The study has been amended to give a third dose to everybody who's less than five at least eight weeks after their last vaccination," Dr Alejandra Gurtman, a Pfizer vaccine researcher said at a meeting of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). She said the company aims to have data for the age group by the end of March or the beginning of April.

In December, Pfizer said it was changing the design of the trial because children between the ages of 2 and 4 who were given two 3-microgram doses of the vaccine did not have the same immune response that a larger dose of the vaccine generated in older children.

Gurtman also said the company was studying a third dose of its vaccine in children ages 5 to 11, six months after their second dose.

The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is authorized in the United States for people age 5 and older. On Wednesday, ACIP backed booster shots of the vaccine for ages 12 to 15.