COVID Booster Shots Get FDA OK In CA: What To Know

CALIFORNIA — Children ages 5 to 11 in California could soon get COVID-19 booster shots as a descendant of the omicron variant causes an uptick in cases in California and around the country.

The FDA amended the emergency authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Tuesday, authorizing the booster dose for kids between 5-11. It’s the first step in a process that could make the shots available to California’s kids later this week.

Under the authorization, the booster can be given at least five months after the kids completed the initial vaccine series.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of outside experts, is expected to sanction the boosters Thursday, and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is expected to give her approval soon after.

At the same time, the federal government is giving away a third round of free COVID-19 tests. The program now offers eight tests to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.

Health experts say the new subvariant, known as BA.2.12.1, is particularly worrisome because it is more transmissible than other highly contagious omicron subvariants, and because it’s able to evade antibodies built up from vaccines or previous infections.

In the CDC region that includes California, the BA.2 subvariant constitutes 62.5% of COVID cases for the week ending May 14. BA.2.12.1 makes up 36.7% of new cases. The original Omicron variant now only accounts for 0.3% of new regional cases.

While the CDC’s county level tracker indicates that most of California is still categorized as “low transmission,” several Northern California counties – Alameda, Humboldt, Marin, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Sonoma – have moved into the “medium transmission” category.

While Los Angeles County still remains in the green, cases are rising quickly: local officials reported a 20% jump from May 4 to May 11.

According to the CDC, 83.3% of Californians are vaccinated, and 88.85% have received at least one dose as of May 5. The state is seeing 7,183 new cases a day as of May 4, and an average of 12 deaths a day as of April 20.

Pfizer-BioNTech said last month that a clinical trial involving 140 children showed the booster shot improves children’s immunity both against the original strain of the coronavirus and the omicron variant.

The effectiveness of vaccines wanes over time, and children between 5 and 11 would become the youngest Americans eligible to get the extra level of protection with the approval of the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration.

That leaves children under 5 as the only Americans for whom vaccines are not available. Both Pfizer and Moderna have clinical trials underway to determine the best vaccine regimen for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Pfizer paused its application for approval of the vaccine for children under 5 after the FDA asked for more data. Moderna has asked regulators to approve vaccines for young children.

In March, regulators approved a second COVID-19 booster shot for people 50 and older.