Comparing the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines for young children

Comparing the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines for young children We’ve laid out what’s known about the differences in the vaccines for the youngest children in the hopes it will parents make their decision. Helen Branswell STAT

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There are two vaccines. Which do you choose?

We can’t tell you which is best for your child. But we can tell you that in this age group, the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccines probably differ more than they do in any other age group on the vaccination spectrum.

Both these vaccines are made using the messenger RNA platform. In adults, their initial efficacy estimates were virtually identical — 95% for Pfizer’s vaccine, 94% for Moderna’s. They were issued emergency use authorizations by the Food and Drug Administration within a week of each other in the United States in December 2020.

But vaccine doses given to adults are not appropriate for young children. And the two companies went separate ways in their decisions about how much antigen to put into their vaccines for babies, toddlers, and preschool-aged children.

We’ve laid out what’s known about the differences in the vaccines here, in the hopes it will help you make your decision. ...