{O/C} The United States is one step closer to warding off the menace of COVID-19.
This, as it has just expanded its vaccination campaign to children as young as 6 months old, set to take effect later this week.
{RVO}
Both Pfizer and Moderna shots will be available, albeit at different dose sizes and numbers of shots.
Some 18 million kids will be eligible, but the actual demand remains unpredictable.
{Take SOT}
After months of keeping her nose to the grindstone, CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, signed off on the latest move following the advisers' vote.
Washington has long been preparing for the expansion, with millions of extra doses requested for distribution to doctors, hospitals and clinics across the country.
Walensky cited the need for young children to be immunised against hospitalisation, death and possible long-term complications that have yet to be rigorously examined.
{Soundbite}
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, Director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention:
COVID-19 vaccines are now available for children under five. Nearly 20 million children are now able to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccinating young children is a critical opportunity to protect them against hospitalisation and death from COVID-19. We have taken another important step together in our fight against COVID-19 by making safe and effective vaccines available for our little ones.
{VO}
The vaccination campaign will be widened to children under 5 -- infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers -- as early as next week.
Pfizer's shots target children 6 months to 4 years old. Three shots are entailed, with each dose at one-tenth of the adult's.
Whereas Moderna's package comprises two shots, each one a quarter of its adult dose given four weeks apart for kids from 6 months to five years old. Children susceptible to serious immune diseases are advised to get a third dose to bolster immunization.
President Joe Biden has entreated parents to get their children inoculated as soon as possible.
To nip rebounds in the bud, public health officials have been tirelessly pushing for shots for pre-schoolers in the run-up to the nest school year.
CDC advisers will meet again next week to determine if Moderna shots are suitable for children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 amid disquiet over rare cases of heart inflammation.
Comments