moderna said monday that a low dose of its covid19 vaccine is safe and appears to work in 6 to 11yearolds as the manufacturer moves toward expanding shots to children competitor pfizers kidsized vaccine doses are closer to widespread use undergoing evaluation by the food and drug administration for nearly the same age group starting at age 5 its vaccine already is authorized for anyone 12 or older moderna hasnt yet gotten the nod to offer its vaccine to teens but is studying lower doses in younger children while it waits researchers tested two shots for the 6 to 11yearolds given a month apart that each contained half the dose given to adults preliminary results showed vaccinated kids developed virusfighting antibodies similar to levels that young adults produce after fullstrength shots moderna said in a press release the study included 4753 kids ages 6 to 11 who got either the vaccine or dummy shots moderna said that like adults the vaccinated youngsters had temporary side effects including fatigue headache fever and injection site pain the study was too small to spot any extremely rare side effects such as heart inflammation that sometimes occurs after either the moderna or pfizer vaccines mostly among young men moderna said it plans to submit its pediatric data to the fda and global regulators soon the fda hasnt yet ruled on the companys application to expand its vaccinations to 12 to 17yearolds although some countries have cleared modernas shots for adolescents but the us is expected to begin vaccinating kids under 12 sometime next month if the fda clears small doses of the pfizer and biontech vaccine for 5 to 11yearolds pfizer reported last week that its kidsized doses proved nearly 91 effective at preventing symptomatic covid19 in the younger age group even as the extracontagious delta variant was spreading widely fdas advisers will deliberate pfizers evidence in a public meeting tuesday if the agency authorizes pfizers kid shots the centers for disease control and prevention the following week is set to recommend who should receive them