--- title: Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Efficacious for Kids description: Moderna plans to submit a request to authorize the vaccine for children ages 6 to 11 years old canonical: https://time.com/6110111/moderna-covid-vaccine-safe-kids/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-10-25T15:44:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:15:58.876Z article:section: Health og:title: Moderna Reports COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Efficacious for Kids og:description: Moderna plans to submit a request to authorize the vaccine for children ages 6 to 11 years old og:url: https://time.com/6110111/moderna-covid-vaccine-safe-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt415d8faacc9feee8/698a1e14457a52ecd0d65a07/GettyImages-1332309491.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: COVID-19 Vaccination in Colombia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Moderna Reports COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Efficacious for Kids twitter:description: Moderna plans to submit a request to authorize the vaccine for children ages 6 to 11 years old twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt415d8faacc9feee8/698a1e14457a52ecd0d65a07/GettyImages-1332309491.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Moderna Reports COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Efficacious for Kids > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a232c4d6-1526-4421-bf2e-8761b4b64fb3&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Vaccinating Younger Children Is The Next Step in the Battle Against Covid-19 [Watch (HLS stream): Vaccinating Younger Children Is The Next Step in the Battle Against Covid-19](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OfRzsXdw.m3u8) (2:41)  _Published 2021-06-10. The company plans to submit a request to authorize the vaccine for children ages 6 to 11 years old_  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 25, 2021 3:44 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 25, 2021 3:44 PM UTC Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is safe and efficacious for children ages 6 to 11 years old who recieve two half doses, the company [said today](https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-announces-positive-top-line-data-phase-23-study-covid-19). That’s based on the results of its KidCOVE study, which involved more than 4,700 kids in that age group. The children participating in Moderna’s trial were randomly assigned to receive two half doses of the vaccine or two shots of a placebo. Those who got the vaccine generated adequate virus-fighting antibodies that met the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) requirements for efficacy, and the vaccine produced an immune response in nearly all the children. Most of the side effects after vaccination were mild to moderate, including fatigue, fever, headache and pain at the injection site. Meanwhile, an independent FDA panel will review data on the [Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine](https://time.com/5949859/pfizer-vaccine-children-under-12/) in children ages 5 to 11 on Oct. 26\. The age range in KidCOVE varies slightly, given that Pfizer-BioNTech included children as young as 5\. Moderna is continuing to study younger children and will report results on kids ages 2 to 5 and 6 months to under 2 years in the coming months. The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently [authorized a half dose](https://time.com/6109275/cdc-panel-recommends-moderna-jj-boosters/) of Moderna’s vaccine as a booster for certain adults over 18 years old. ## Transcript When COVID-19 began its devastating march of infection in 2020. There was one glimmer of hope amid the darkness. Young children did not seem to be getting infected as often as adults. And when they did, they didn't seem to get as sick or require hospital care. Older people seem to be the most vulnerable, so when vaccine makers were ready to test their shots, they started with the elderly first. When the first studies at the end of December 2020 were  reassuringly positive, showing that vaccines from Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna were more than 90% efficacious, those companies immediately turn their attention to children. When it comes to new drugs or vaccines, scientists often start with adults first,  to make sure that the experimental therapies are safe. Young children's immune systems are still developing, so testing unproven treatments in them can potentially lead to long term harm. But once the COVID-19 vaccines were shown to be safe and effective in adults, researchers were more confident in testing them in children. And that confidence was justified. In March 2021, Pfizer and BioNTech reported that among teens aged 12 to 15, who received the vaccine, none reported symptoms of COVID-19. So in May 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration extended the authorization for Pfizer BioNTech's vaccine to include not just adults, but teens as well. That same month, Moderna reported similarly positive results in its trial among teenagers. Moderna has requested the FDA to allow 12 to 15 year olds to also get vaccinated with the Moderna shot. Both companies are also testing their vaccines in even younger children down to babies as young as six months old. For these toddlers and babies, the companies are testing lower doses of their vaccines, since younger children's immune systems are often quicker to respond. Vaccinating younger and younger children will be important in the fall when schools reopen. Children who are immunized will be safer in classrooms and be less likely to get infected or spread the virus to others. Vaccinating children will also mean that the virus will have fewer and fewer people to infect. 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