🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 84 (from laksa054)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa084.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html","crawl_time":1770750099,"first_indexed_time":1647241887,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,nytimes!www,\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html s443","src_root_hash":"4566504020376537684","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Which Coronavirus Vaccine Will Work in the Youngest Children? - The New York Times","meta_descriptions":["Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Advertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\nModerna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots.\nPhoebee Curtis, 9, receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in Albuquerque last year. Pfizer currently has the only shot approved for any younger Americans, although Moderna may apply for approval soon.\nCredit...\nPaul Ratje for The New York Times\nMarch 14, 2022\nWASHINGTON — Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies’ main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults.\nBut Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nation’s vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nation’s youngest children.\nAbout 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers.\nModerna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the “Goldilocks” dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers.\nModerna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up.\nModerna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11.\nDr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Moderna’s stronger doses “result in more robust immune responses” than Pfizer’s shots have elicited in young children.\nA series of\nnew\nstudies\nraising questions\nabout how long Pfizer’s lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Moderna’s choices.\nDr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds “in the understandable priority to maximize safety.”\nTo date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds.\nModerna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots.\nMore than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months.\nBut there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches.\nCompared with adults, “there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration.\n“But it will benefit some individuals,” he said. “It will save some lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,\n336 children in the United States\nunder the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic.\nImage\nDoses of the Pfizer children’s vaccine being prepared in Abuquerque in November. Pfizer and Moderna are testing different doses for children, compared to their adult vaccines.\nCredit...\nPaul Ratje for The New York Times\nHopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three.\nBut\nthat effort collapsed\nwhen new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection.\nNow, more detailed results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe.\n“We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview.\nAmy Rose, Pfizer’s spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the “safest and most tolerable dose” for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5.\nModerna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firm’s data for all three age groups simultaneously.\n“We really stand behind those doses,” Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines wane in potency over time,\nsome studies of adults have suggested\nthat Moderna’s protection holds up longer. “I think it comes down to dose,” Dr. Burton said.\nHe said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a “robust immune response” in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels.\nDr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the company’s shot than from Pfizer’s.\n“The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective?” he said. “You couldn’t actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since it’s rare, but you could ask, ‘What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think that’s important?’”\nImage\nPreschoolers wearing masks in Annandale, Va., last year. As precautions are lifted in states, there is still interest in protecting the youngest children who are not eligible for vaccines.\nCredit...\nCheriss May for The New York Times\nPartly because of concerns about myocarditis,\nthe C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older\n, particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect.\nDr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent\nBritish data\nthat showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients.\nBut Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Moderna’s higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The company’s pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said.\nModerna’s new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York State’s health department\nrecently found\nthat protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks.\nC.D.C. researchers\nseparately found\nthat during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly.\nThe studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month.\nDr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill.\nAmid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake.\nAlison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, “that’s just going to pave the way to say, ‘I’m going to hold off,’” she said. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.”\nSharon LaFraniere\nis an investigative reporter. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, and another team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2021 for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic.\nNoah Weiland\ncovers the coronavirus pandemic as a health reporter in the Washington bureau. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020. He grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and graduated from the University of Chicago.\nA version of this article appears in print on\nMarch 14, 2022\n, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline:  Quest for a ‘Goldilocks’ Dose To Safeguard Young Children\n.\nOrder Reprints\n|\nToday’s Paper\n|\nSubscribe\nRelated Content\nThe Covid-19 Pandemic\nGabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times\nAlyssa Pointer\/Reuters\nTara Weston for The New York Times\nMore in Politics\nU.S. Department of Justice\nAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times\nTierney L. Cross\/The New York Times\nEditors’ Picks\nManuel Harlan\nRaphaelle Macaron\nTrending in The Times\nAriel Schalit\/Associated Press\nAngela Weiss\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nDoug Mills\/The New York Times\nImage by James Hill for The New York Times\nDoug Mills\/The New York Times\nAlain Hamel\nNatasha Campos\/Getty Images For Mark Markiplier\nLauren DeCicca for The New York Times\nAdvertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#site-index)\n\nSearch & Section Navigation\n\nSection Navigation\n\nSearch\n\n[Politics](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/politics)\n\n[Log in](https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2022%252F03%252F14%252Fus%252Fpolitics%252Fcoronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html&asset=masthead)\n\nTuesday, February 10, 2026\n\n[Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper)\n\nU.S. Health Policy\n\n- [Covid Shots](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/06\/health\/vaccines-covid-acip-malone-kennedy.html)\n- [‘Naturally Derived’ Dyes](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/05\/us\/politics\/kennedy-fda-food-dyes-protein.html)\n- [Federal Autism Panel](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/29\/health\/autism-panel-kennedy-iacc.html)\n- [Approach to Immunization](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/11\/health\/kennedy-vaccines-children.html)\n- [Vaccine Changes](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/06\/well\/cdc-vaccine-schedule-recommendations.html)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-top)\n\nSupported by\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-sponsor)\n# Which Coronavirus Vaccine Will Work in the Youngest Children?\nModerna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots.\n\n- Share full article\n- 54\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/00dc-moderna1\/merlin_197696001_94371e9b-7505-4654-8675-a0eb06ca949f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nPhoebee Curtis, 9, receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in Albuquerque last year. Pfizer currently has the only shot approved for any younger Americans, although Moderna may apply for approval soon.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times\n\n[![Sharon LaFraniere](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/07\/12\/multimedia\/author-sharon-lafraniere\/author-sharon-lafraniere-thumbLarge-v2.png)](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sharon-lafraniere)[![Noah Weiland](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2019\/07\/23\/reader-center\/author-noah-weiland\/author-noah-weiland-thumbLarge.png)](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/noah-weiland)\n\nBy [Sharon LaFraniere](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sharon-lafraniere) and [Noah Weiland](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/noah-weiland)\n\nMarch 14, 2022\n\n[Leer en español](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/es\/2022\/03\/15\/espanol\/vacunas-covid-ninos.html \"Read in Spanish\")\n\nWASHINGTON — Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies’ main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults.\n\nBut Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nation’s vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nation’s youngest children.\n\nAbout 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers.\n\nModerna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the “Goldilocks” dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers.\n\nModerna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up.\n\nModerna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11.\n\n**Will you vaccinate your young children?**\n\nThe New York Times wants to hear more about how parents are making decisions to vaccinate themselves and their children. [Share your story here.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/technology\/parents-will-you-vaccinate-your-young-kids.html)\n\nDr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Moderna’s stronger doses “result in more robust immune responses” than Pfizer’s shots have elicited in young children.\n\nA series of [new](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/28\/health\/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) [studies](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/01\/health\/vaccine-kids-effectiveness-omicron.html) [raising questions](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/10\/health\/covid-vaccines-children.html) about how long Pfizer’s lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Moderna’s choices.\n\nDr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds “in the understandable priority to maximize safety.”\n\nTo date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds.\n\nModerna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots.\n\nMore than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months.\n\nBut there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches.\n\n## Editors’ Picks\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/02\/10\/dining\/10Valentine-roundup-red-velvet-cupcakes\/merlin_183224016_5b6871e8-a39c-426b-9286-1f846cf49912-thumbLarge.jpg)24 Easy Valentine’s Day Recipes That Anyone Can Make](https:\/\/cooking.nytimes.com\/article\/easy-valentines-day-recipes)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/02\/fashion\/02ST-GROUNDBEEF\/02ST-GROUNDBEEF-thumbLarge.png)Move Over, Girl Dinner. Boy Kibble Has Arrived.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/09\/style\/boy-kibble-ground-beef-protein-dinner.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/03\/well\/WELL-BRIDGERTON-ORGASM-GAP1\/WELL-BRIDGERTON-ORGASM-GAP1-thumbLarge.jpg)‘Bridgerton’ Tackles the Orgasm Gap](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/04\/well\/bridgerton-orgasm-pinnacle.html)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-pp_edpick)\n\nCompared with adults, “there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration.\n\n“But it will benefit some individuals,” he said. “It will save some lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [336 children in the United States](https:\/\/data.cdc.gov\/NCHS\/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea\/nr4s-juj3) under the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/00dc-moderna2\/merlin_197695536_4b9ece2b-55d0-46d2-be33-4f1c40f12b6f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nDoses of the Pfizer children’s vaccine being prepared in Abuquerque in November. Pfizer and Moderna are testing different doses for children, compared to their adult vaccines.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times\n\nHopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three.\n\nBut [that effort collapsed](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/11\/us\/politics\/fda-children-pfizer-vaccine.html) when new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection.\n\nNow, more detailed results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe.\n\n“We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview.\n\nAmy Rose, Pfizer’s spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the “safest and most tolerable dose” for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5.\n\nModerna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firm’s data for all three age groups simultaneously.\n\n“We really stand behind those doses,” Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines wane in potency over time, [some studies of adults have suggested](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/22\/health\/covid-moderna-pfizer-vaccines.html) that Moderna’s protection holds up longer. “I think it comes down to dose,” Dr. Burton said.\n\nHe said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a “robust immune response” in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels.\n\nDr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the company’s shot than from Pfizer’s.\n\n“The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective?” he said. “You couldn’t actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since it’s rare, but you could ask, ‘What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think that’s important?’”\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/00dc-moderna3\/merlin_184814520_a0264e71-3561-41be-87c2-33ac807c7edd-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nPreschoolers wearing masks in Annandale, Va., last year. As precautions are lifted in states, there is still interest in protecting the youngest children who are not eligible for vaccines.Credit...Cheriss May for The New York Times\n\nPartly because of concerns about myocarditis, [the C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older](https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/covid-19\/clinical-considerations\/covid-19-vaccines-us.html), particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect.\n\nDr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent [British data](https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions\/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting#analysis-of-data) that showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients.\n\nBut Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Moderna’s higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The company’s pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said.\n\nModerna’s new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York State’s health department [recently found](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/28\/health\/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) that protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks.\n\nC.D.C. researchers [separately found](https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/71\/wr\/mm7109e3.htm) that during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly.\n\nThe studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month.\n\nDr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill.\n\nAmid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake.\n\nAlison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, “that’s just going to pave the way to say, ‘I’m going to hold off,’” she said. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.”\n\n[![]()New Vaccine Findings Pose Tough Questions for Parents of Young Children March 10, 2022](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/10\/health\/covid-vaccines-children.html)\n\n[![]()‘Stealth’ Omicron Is Stealthy No More: What’s Known About the BA.2 Variant](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/omicron-variant-ba2.html)\n\n[![]()After 2 Years of Pandemic Life, Turn Toward Normalcy Is a Shake-Up March 12, 2022](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/12\/us\/covid-pandemic-vaccines-mandates.html)\n\n[Sharon LaFraniere](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sharon-lafraniere) is an investigative reporter. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, and another team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2021 for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\n[Noah Weiland](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/noah-weiland) covers the coronavirus pandemic as a health reporter in the Washington bureau. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020. He grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and graduated from the University of Chicago.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on March 14, 2022, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Quest for a ‘Goldilocks’ Dose To Safeguard Young Children. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\nSee more on: [BioNTech SE](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/biontech-se), [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/organization\/centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention), [Food and Drug Administration](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/organization\/food-and-drug-administration), [Moderna Inc](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/moderna-inc), [Pfizer Inc.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/company\/pfizer-inc)\n\nRead 54 comments\n\n- Share full article\n- 54\n\n## Related Content\n### [The Covid-19 Pandemic](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus)\n- [Milan Athletes Welcome Return of Winter Olympics Spectators](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/06\/world\/europe\/2026-olympics-opening-ceremony-crowd-athletes.html)\n  \n  ![Empty seats at the speedskating finals during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/multimedia\/06oly-opening-live-spectators-are-back-gjht\/06oly-opening-live-spectators-are-back-gjht-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times\n- [Federal Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/06\/health\/vaccines-covid-acip-malone-kennedy.html)\n  \n  ![Dr. Robert Malone, during a December meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/multimedia\/06HS-acip-bchk\/06HS-acip-bchk-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Alyssa Pointer\/Reuters\n- [He Built a Server to Protect Indigenous Health Data](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/05\/science\/lost-science-yracheta-indigenous.html)\n  \n  Tara Weston for The New York Times\n\n### [More in Politics](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/politics)\n- [Epstein Files Reveal Scope of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Role in Clinton Circle](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/08\/us\/politics\/epstein-clintons-maxwell.html)\n  \n  ![A photograph released by the Justice Department showing former President Bill Clinton with Ghislaine Maxwell. 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Navigation\n- [© 2026 The New York Times Company](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014792127-Copyright-Notice)\n\n- [NYTCo](https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/)\n- [Contact Us](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115015385887-Contact-The-New-York-Times)\n- [Accessibility](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115015727108-Accessibility)\n- [Work with us](https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/careers\/)\n- [Advertise](https:\/\/advertising.nytimes.com\/)\n- [T Brand Studio](https:\/\/advertising.nytimes.com\/custom-content\/)\n- [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/10940941449492-The-New-York-Times-Company-Privacy-Policy)\n- [Cookie Policy](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/privacy\/cookie-policy)\n- [Terms of Service](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014893428-Terms-of-Service)\n- [Terms of Sale](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014893968-Terms-of-Sale)\n- [Site Map](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/sitemap\/)\n- [Canada](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/ca\/)\n- [International](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/international\/)\n- [Help](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us)\n- [Subscriptions](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=37WXW)","attrs_readable_markdown":"Advertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-top)\n\nModerna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots.\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/00dc-moderna1\/merlin_197696001_94371e9b-7505-4654-8675-a0eb06ca949f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nPhoebee Curtis, 9, receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in Albuquerque last year. Pfizer currently has the only shot approved for any younger Americans, although Moderna may apply for approval soon.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times\n\nMarch 14, 2022\n\nWASHINGTON — Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies’ main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults.\n\nBut Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nation’s vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nation’s youngest children.\n\nAbout 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers.\n\nModerna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the “Goldilocks” dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers.\n\nModerna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up.\n\nModerna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11.\n\nDr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Moderna’s stronger doses “result in more robust immune responses” than Pfizer’s shots have elicited in young children.\n\nA series of [new](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/28\/health\/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) [studies](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/01\/health\/vaccine-kids-effectiveness-omicron.html) [raising questions](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/10\/health\/covid-vaccines-children.html) about how long Pfizer’s lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Moderna’s choices.\n\nDr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds “in the understandable priority to maximize safety.”\n\nTo date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds.\n\nModerna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots.\n\nMore than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months.\n\nBut there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches.\n\nCompared with adults, “there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration.\n\n“But it will benefit some individuals,” he said. “It will save some lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [336 children in the United States](https:\/\/data.cdc.gov\/NCHS\/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea\/nr4s-juj3) under the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/00dc-moderna2\/merlin_197695536_4b9ece2b-55d0-46d2-be33-4f1c40f12b6f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nDoses of the Pfizer children’s vaccine being prepared in Abuquerque in November. Pfizer and Moderna are testing different doses for children, compared to their adult vaccines.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times\n\nHopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three.\n\nBut [that effort collapsed](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/11\/us\/politics\/fda-children-pfizer-vaccine.html) when new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection.\n\nNow, more detailed results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe.\n\n“We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview.\n\nAmy Rose, Pfizer’s spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the “safest and most tolerable dose” for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5.\n\nModerna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firm’s data for all three age groups simultaneously.\n\n“We really stand behind those doses,” Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines wane in potency over time, [some studies of adults have suggested](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/22\/health\/covid-moderna-pfizer-vaccines.html) that Moderna’s protection holds up longer. “I think it comes down to dose,” Dr. Burton said.\n\nHe said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a “robust immune response” in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels.\n\nDr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the company’s shot than from Pfizer’s.\n\n“The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective?” he said. “You couldn’t actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since it’s rare, but you could ask, ‘What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think that’s important?’”\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/00dc-moderna3\/merlin_184814520_a0264e71-3561-41be-87c2-33ac807c7edd-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nPreschoolers wearing masks in Annandale, Va., last year. As precautions are lifted in states, there is still interest in protecting the youngest children who are not eligible for vaccines.Credit...Cheriss May for The New York Times\n\nPartly because of concerns about myocarditis, [the C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older](https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/covid-19\/clinical-considerations\/covid-19-vaccines-us.html), particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect.\n\nDr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent [British data](https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions\/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting#analysis-of-data) that showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients.\n\nBut Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Moderna’s higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The company’s pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said.\n\nModerna’s new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York State’s health department [recently found](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/28\/health\/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) that protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks.\n\nC.D.C. researchers [separately found](https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/71\/wr\/mm7109e3.htm) that during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly.\n\nThe studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month.\n\nDr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill.\n\nAmid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake.\n\nAlison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, “that’s just going to pave the way to say, ‘I’m going to hold off,’” she said. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.”\n\n[Sharon LaFraniere](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sharon-lafraniere) is an investigative reporter. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, and another team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2021 for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\n[Noah Weiland](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/noah-weiland) covers the coronavirus pandemic as a health reporter in the Washington bureau. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020. He grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and graduated from the University of Chicago.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on March 14, 2022, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Quest for a ‘Goldilocks’ Dose To Safeguard Young Children. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\n## Related Content\n[The Covid-19 Pandemic](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus)\n\n- ![Empty seats at the speedskating finals during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/multimedia\/06oly-opening-live-spectators-are-back-gjht\/06oly-opening-live-spectators-are-back-gjht-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times\n- ![Dr. Robert Malone, during a December meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/multimedia\/06HS-acip-bchk\/06HS-acip-bchk-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Alyssa Pointer\/Reuters\n- Tara Weston for The New York Times\n\n[More in Politics](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/politics)\n\n- ![A photograph released by the Justice Department showing former President Bill Clinton with Ghislaine Maxwell. Newly released emails show Ms. Maxwell’s behind-the-scenes role in helping to start the Clinton Global Initiative, one of Mr. Clinton’s signature post-White House endeavors.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/05\/us\/politics\/esptein-clintons\/esptein-clintons-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  U.S. Department of Justice\n- ![Phillip Brown was charged with a felony after ICE agents shot at his car in Washington last year.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/09\/multimedia\/00dc-ice-shootings-01-mpjf\/00dc-ice-shootings-01-mpjf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/02\/multimedia\/wilder-wide-video-topper-image\/wilder-wide-video-topper-image-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/05\/multimedia\/ocasio-cortez-promo-2-zmwj\/ocasio-cortez-promo-2-zmwj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Tierney L. Cross\/The New York Times\n\nEditors’ Picks\n\n- ![A revival of “Arcadia,” directed by Carrie Cracknell, runs through March 21 at the Old Vic theater in London.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/05\/arts\/05cul-arcadia-review\/05cul-arcadia-review-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Manuel Harlan\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/03\/books\/review\/03TBR-SABIT-REVIEW\/03TBR-SABIT-REVIEW-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Raphaelle Macaron\n\nTrending in The Times\n\n- ![Protesters calling for greater security amid rising crime in their communities in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/10\/multimedia\/10int-israel-protests-01-pfkt\/10int-israel-protests-01-pfkt-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Ariel Schalit\/Associated Press\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/09\/smarter-living\/wirecutter\/THUMB_260123_WC_WILI_DISHDETERGENT_WL_V6\/THUMB_260123_WC_WILI_DISHDETERGENT_WL_V6-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n- ![Beyond two and a half cups of coffee daily, the advantage plateaued, possibly because there’s a limit to how much caffeine our bodies can metabolize, researchers said.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/09\/multimedia\/09coffee-dementia-kglc\/09coffee-dementia-kglc-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Angela Weiss\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![Bad Bunny led a cast of musicians and dancers for the first Super Bowl halftime set performed nearly entirely in Spanish.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/11\/multimedia\/09cul-halftime-best-worst-kzfw\/09cul-halftime-best-worst-kzfw-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Doug Mills\/The New York Times\n- ![Breezy Johnson of the United States posing with her gold medal for downhill skiing at the medal ceremony on Sunday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/09\/multimedia\/09xp-medals1-zcvg\/09xp-medals1-zcvg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Image by James Hill for The New York Times\n- ![President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/09\/multimedia\/09int-germany-munich-01-zpkw\/09int-germany-munich-01-zpkw-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Doug Mills\/The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/10\/multimedia\/00inv-epstein-cameras-promo-jqpg\/00inv-epstein-cameras-promo-jqpg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/world\/canada\/Halibut_Thumb_v5\/Halibut_Thumb_v5-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Alain Hamel\n- ![Mark Fischbach, known as Markiplier, directed and funded “Iron Lung” himself.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/10\/multimedia\/09cul-youtube-movie-2-vbcj\/09cul-youtube-movie-2-vbcj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Natasha Campos\/Getty Images For Mark Markiplier\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/01\/29\/multimedia\/00int-malaysia-durian-promo\/00int-malaysia-durian-01-wmzp-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/14\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-bottom)","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	Which Coronavirus Vaccine Will Work in the Youngest Children? - The New York Times
Meta Description	Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots.
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Boilerpipe Text	Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots. Phoebee Curtis, 9, receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in Albuquerque last year. Pfizer currently has the only shot approved for any younger Americans, although Moderna may apply for approval soon. Credit... Paul Ratje for The New York Times March 14, 2022 WASHINGTON — Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies’ main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults. But Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nation’s vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nation’s youngest children. About 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the “Goldilocks” dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers. Moderna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up. Moderna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11. Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Moderna’s stronger doses “result in more robust immune responses” than Pfizer’s shots have elicited in young children. A series of new studies raising questions about how long Pfizer’s lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Moderna’s choices. Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds “in the understandable priority to maximize safety.” To date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds. Moderna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots. More than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months. But there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches. Compared with adults, “there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration. “But it will benefit some individuals,” he said. “It will save some lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 336 children in the United States under the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic. Image Doses of the Pfizer children’s vaccine being prepared in Abuquerque in November. Pfizer and Moderna are testing different doses for children, compared to their adult vaccines. Credit... Paul Ratje for The New York Times Hopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three. But that effort collapsed when new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection. Now, more detailed results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe. “We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. Amy Rose, Pfizer’s spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the “safest and most tolerable dose” for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5. Moderna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firm’s data for all three age groups simultaneously. “We really stand behind those doses,” Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines wane in potency over time, some studies of adults have suggested that Moderna’s protection holds up longer. “I think it comes down to dose,” Dr. Burton said. He said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a “robust immune response” in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels. Dr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the company’s shot than from Pfizer’s. “The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective?” he said. “You couldn’t actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since it’s rare, but you could ask, ‘What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think that’s important?’” Image Preschoolers wearing masks in Annandale, Va., last year. As precautions are lifted in states, there is still interest in protecting the youngest children who are not eligible for vaccines. Credit... Cheriss May for The New York Times Partly because of concerns about myocarditis, the C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older , particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect. Dr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent British data that showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients. But Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Moderna’s higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The company’s pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said. Moderna’s new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York State’s health department recently found that protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks. C.D.C. researchers separately found that during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly. The studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month. Dr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill. Amid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake. Alison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, “that’s just going to pave the way to say, ‘I’m going to hold off,’” she said. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.” Sharon LaFraniere is an investigative reporter. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, and another team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2021 for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic. Noah Weiland covers the coronavirus pandemic as a health reporter in the Washington bureau. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020. He grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and graduated from the University of Chicago. A version of this article appears in print on March 14, 2022 , Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Quest for a ‘Goldilocks’ Dose To Safeguard Young Children . Order Reprints \| Today’s Paper \| Subscribe Related Content The Covid-19 Pandemic Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times Alyssa Pointer/Reuters Tara Weston for The New York Times More in Politics U.S. Department of Justice Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times Editors’ Picks Manuel Harlan Raphaelle Macaron Trending in The Times Ariel Schalit/Associated Press Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Doug Mills/The New York Times Image by James Hill for The New York Times Doug Mills/The New York Times Alain Hamel Natasha Campos/Getty Images For Mark Markiplier Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Markdown	[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#site-index) Search & Section Navigation Section Navigation Search [Politics](https://www.nytimes.com/section/politics) [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2022%252F03%252F14%252Fus%252Fpolitics%252Fcoronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html&asset=masthead) Tuesday, February 10, 2026 [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) U.S. Health Policy - [Covid Shots](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/health/vaccines-covid-acip-malone-kennedy.html) - [‘Naturally Derived’ Dyes](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/us/politics/kennedy-fda-food-dyes-protein.html) - [Federal Autism Panel](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/health/autism-panel-kennedy-iacc.html) - [Approach to Immunization](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/health/kennedy-vaccines-children.html) - [Vaccine Changes](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/well/cdc-vaccine-schedule-recommendations.html) Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-top) Supported by [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-sponsor) # Which Coronavirus Vaccine Will Work in the Youngest Children? Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots. - Share full article - 54 ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/11/us/politics/00dc-moderna1/merlin_197696001_94371e9b-7505-4654-8675-a0eb06ca949f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Phoebee Curtis, 9, receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in Albuquerque last year. Pfizer currently has the only shot approved for any younger Americans, although Moderna may apply for approval soon.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times [![Sharon LaFraniere](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/07/12/multimedia/author-sharon-lafraniere/author-sharon-lafraniere-thumbLarge-v2.png)](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sharon-lafraniere)[![Noah Weiland](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/07/23/reader-center/author-noah-weiland/author-noah-weiland-thumbLarge.png)](https://www.nytimes.com/by/noah-weiland) By [Sharon LaFraniere](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sharon-lafraniere) and [Noah Weiland](https://www.nytimes.com/by/noah-weiland) March 14, 2022 [Leer en español](https://www.nytimes.com/es/2022/03/15/espanol/vacunas-covid-ninos.html "Read in Spanish") WASHINGTON — Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies’ main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults. But Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nation’s vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nation’s youngest children. About 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the “Goldilocks” dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers. Moderna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up. Moderna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11. Will you vaccinate your young children? The New York Times wants to hear more about how parents are making decisions to vaccinate themselves and their children. [Share your story here.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/technology/parents-will-you-vaccinate-your-young-kids.html) Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Moderna’s stronger doses “result in more robust immune responses” than Pfizer’s shots have elicited in young children. A series of [new](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/health/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) [studies](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/health/vaccine-kids-effectiveness-omicron.html) [raising questions](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/health/covid-vaccines-children.html) about how long Pfizer’s lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Moderna’s choices. Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds “in the understandable priority to maximize safety.” To date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds. Moderna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots. More than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months. But there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches. ## Editors’ Picks [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/10/dining/10Valentine-roundup-red-velvet-cupcakes/merlin_183224016_5b6871e8-a39c-426b-9286-1f846cf49912-thumbLarge.jpg)24 Easy Valentine’s Day Recipes That Anyone Can Make](https://cooking.nytimes.com/article/easy-valentines-day-recipes) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/02/fashion/02ST-GROUNDBEEF/02ST-GROUNDBEEF-thumbLarge.png)Move Over, Girl Dinner. Boy Kibble Has Arrived.](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/style/boy-kibble-ground-beef-protein-dinner.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/03/well/WELL-BRIDGERTON-ORGASM-GAP1/WELL-BRIDGERTON-ORGASM-GAP1-thumbLarge.jpg)‘Bridgerton’ Tackles the Orgasm Gap](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/well/bridgerton-orgasm-pinnacle.html) Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-pp_edpick) Compared with adults, “there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration. “But it will benefit some individuals,” he said. “It will save some lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [336 children in the United States](https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea/nr4s-juj3) under the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/11/us/politics/00dc-moderna2/merlin_197695536_4b9ece2b-55d0-46d2-be33-4f1c40f12b6f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Doses of the Pfizer children’s vaccine being prepared in Abuquerque in November. Pfizer and Moderna are testing different doses for children, compared to their adult vaccines.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times Hopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three. But [that effort collapsed](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/us/politics/fda-children-pfizer-vaccine.html) when new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection. Now, more detailed results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe. “We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. Amy Rose, Pfizer’s spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the “safest and most tolerable dose” for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5. Moderna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firm’s data for all three age groups simultaneously. “We really stand behind those doses,” Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines wane in potency over time, [some studies of adults have suggested](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/health/covid-moderna-pfizer-vaccines.html) that Moderna’s protection holds up longer. “I think it comes down to dose,” Dr. Burton said. He said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a “robust immune response” in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels. Dr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the company’s shot than from Pfizer’s. “The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective?” he said. “You couldn’t actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since it’s rare, but you could ask, ‘What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think that’s important?’” Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/11/us/politics/00dc-moderna3/merlin_184814520_a0264e71-3561-41be-87c2-33ac807c7edd-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Preschoolers wearing masks in Annandale, Va., last year. As precautions are lifted in states, there is still interest in protecting the youngest children who are not eligible for vaccines.Credit...Cheriss May for The New York Times Partly because of concerns about myocarditis, [the C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older](https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html), particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect. Dr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent [British data](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting#analysis-of-data) that showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients. But Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Moderna’s higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The company’s pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said. Moderna’s new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York State’s health department [recently found](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/health/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) that protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks. C.D.C. researchers [separately found](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7109e3.htm) that during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly. The studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month. Dr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill. Amid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake. Alison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, “that’s just going to pave the way to say, ‘I’m going to hold off,’” she said. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.” [![]()New Vaccine Findings Pose Tough Questions for Parents of Young Children March 10, 2022](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/health/covid-vaccines-children.html) [![]()‘Stealth’ Omicron Is Stealthy No More: What’s Known About the BA.2 Variant](https://www.nytimes.com/article/omicron-variant-ba2.html) [![]()After 2 Years of Pandemic Life, Turn Toward Normalcy Is a Shake-Up March 12, 2022](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/us/covid-pandemic-vaccines-mandates.html) [Sharon LaFraniere](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sharon-lafraniere) is an investigative reporter. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, and another team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2021 for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic. [Noah Weiland](https://www.nytimes.com/by/noah-weiland) covers the coronavirus pandemic as a health reporter in the Washington bureau. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020. He grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and graduated from the University of Chicago. A version of this article appears in print on March 14, 2022, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Quest for a ‘Goldilocks’ Dose To Safeguard Young Children. [Order Reprints](https://nytimes.wrightsmedia.com/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY) See more on: [BioNTech SE](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/biontech-se), [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/organization/centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention), [Food and Drug Administration](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/organization/food-and-drug-administration), [Moderna Inc](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/moderna-inc), [Pfizer Inc.](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/company/pfizer-inc) Read 54 comments - Share full article - 54 ## Related Content ### [The Covid-19 Pandemic](https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus) - [Milan Athletes Welcome Return of Winter Olympics Spectators](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/2026-olympics-opening-ceremony-crowd-athletes.html) ![Empty seats at the speedskating finals during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. ](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/06/multimedia/06oly-opening-live-spectators-are-back-gjht/06oly-opening-live-spectators-are-back-gjht-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times - [Federal Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/health/vaccines-covid-acip-malone-kennedy.html) ![Dr. Robert Malone, during a December meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/06/multimedia/06HS-acip-bchk/06HS-acip-bchk-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Alyssa Pointer/Reuters - [He Built a Server to Protect Indigenous Health Data](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/science/lost-science-yracheta-indigenous.html) Tara Weston for The New York Times ### [More in Politics](https://www.nytimes.com/section/politics) - [Epstein Files Reveal Scope of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Role in Clinton Circle](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/us/politics/epstein-clintons-maxwell.html) ![A photograph released by the Justice Department showing former President Bill Clinton with Ghislaine Maxwell. 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Readable Markdown	Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-children-moderna-pfizer.html#after-top) Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate the youngest children, the only Americans still not eligible for shots. ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/11/us/politics/00dc-moderna1/merlin_197696001_94371e9b-7505-4654-8675-a0eb06ca949f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Phoebee Curtis, 9, receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in Albuquerque last year. Pfizer currently has the only shot approved for any younger Americans, although Moderna may apply for approval soon.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times March 14, 2022 WASHINGTON — Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies’ main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults. But Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nation’s vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nation’s youngest children. About 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the “Goldilocks” dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers. Moderna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up. Moderna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11. Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Moderna’s stronger doses “result in more robust immune responses” than Pfizer’s shots have elicited in young children. A series of [new](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/health/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) [studies](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/health/vaccine-kids-effectiveness-omicron.html) [raising questions](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/health/covid-vaccines-children.html) about how long Pfizer’s lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Moderna’s choices. Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds “in the understandable priority to maximize safety.” To date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds. Moderna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots. More than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months. But there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches. Compared with adults, “there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration. “But it will benefit some individuals,” he said. “It will save some lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [336 children in the United States](https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea/nr4s-juj3) under the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/11/us/politics/00dc-moderna2/merlin_197695536_4b9ece2b-55d0-46d2-be33-4f1c40f12b6f-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Doses of the Pfizer children’s vaccine being prepared in Abuquerque in November. Pfizer and Moderna are testing different doses for children, compared to their adult vaccines.Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times Hopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three. But [that effort collapsed](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/us/politics/fda-children-pfizer-vaccine.html) when new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection. Now, more detailed results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe. “We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. Amy Rose, Pfizer’s spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the “safest and most tolerable dose” for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5. Moderna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firm’s data for all three age groups simultaneously. “We really stand behind those doses,” Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines wane in potency over time, [some studies of adults have suggested](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/health/covid-moderna-pfizer-vaccines.html) that Moderna’s protection holds up longer. “I think it comes down to dose,” Dr. Burton said. He said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a “robust immune response” in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels. Dr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the company’s shot than from Pfizer’s. “The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective?” he said. “You couldn’t actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since it’s rare, but you could ask, ‘What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think that’s important?’” Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/11/us/politics/00dc-moderna3/merlin_184814520_a0264e71-3561-41be-87c2-33ac807c7edd-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Preschoolers wearing masks in Annandale, Va., last year. As precautions are lifted in states, there is still interest in protecting the youngest children who are not eligible for vaccines.Credit...Cheriss May for The New York Times Partly because of concerns about myocarditis, [the C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older](https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html), particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect. Dr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent [British data](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting#analysis-of-data) that showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients. But Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Moderna’s higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The company’s pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said. Moderna’s new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York State’s health department [recently found](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/health/pfizer-vaccine-kids.html) that protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks. C.D.C. researchers [separately found](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7109e3.htm) that during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly. The studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month. Dr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill. Amid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake. Alison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, “that’s just going to pave the way to say, ‘I’m going to hold off,’” she said. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.” [Sharon LaFraniere](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sharon-lafraniere) is an investigative reporter. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, and another team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2021 for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic. [Noah Weiland](https://www.nytimes.com/by/noah-weiland) covers the coronavirus pandemic as a health reporter in the Washington bureau. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020. He grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and graduated from the University of Chicago. A version of this article appears in print on March 14, 2022, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Quest for a ‘Goldilocks’ Dose To Safeguard Young Children. 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