Clyburn wants update on COVID vax for young kids 

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House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Monday requested a briefing from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the status of COVID-19 vaccines for young children.

He cited the high hospitalization rates that were seen in children under the age of 5 during the omicron wave and the large number of children who are still unable to get immunized.

In his letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, Clyburn pointed to reports that the agency was considering delaying its decision on authorizing Moderna’s vaccine for young children until the summer.

Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci recently said the FDA may wait to review Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines at the same time, possibly in June, when the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is reportedly scheduled to meet again.

Clyburn wrote that this timeline would delay the potential authorization of a shot for younger children by weeks.

FDA grants full approval for child COVID treatment

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday gave its first full approval for a COVID-19 treatment for children under 12.

The agency granted approval to the treatment remdesivir, also known as Veklury, made by Gilead Sciences, which has already been approved as a treatment for adults.

The approval covers children 28 days and older who weigh at least 3 kilograms (about 7 pounds) and are either hospitalized or at high-risk of severe illness.

The treatment was earlier under emergency use authorization for children. Full approval from the FDA provides a more formal and higher level of endorsement than emergency authorization.

Still, the FDA stressed that remdesivir is not a replacement for vaccination, and there is still no authorized vaccine for children under 5, a source of stress and disappointment for some parents.   Read more here.

FEARS OF LOCKDOWN SWELL IN BEIJING AMID NEW COVID OUTBREAK 

Parts of Beijing began mass COVID-19 testing on Monday, prompting concerns of a lockdown and panic buying because of an uptick in cases.

Only 70 cases had been detected since Friday in the city of 21 million people. But Chaoyang, which is one of the largest districts in the city with a population of 3.5 million, announced on Sunday it would launch a mass testing effort.

Of Beijing’s 70 cases, 46 were in Chaoyang, Reuters reported, citing a local health official.

Following the announcement, people in Beijing hurried to supermarkets and the country’s stock markets dropped amid fears of a longer, stringent lockdown, the news service added.

“The city has recently seen several outbreaks involving multiple transmission chains, and the risk of continued and undetected transmission is high. The situation is urgent and grim,” municipal official Tian Wei said on Saturday, CNN reported. “The whole city must act immediately.”

Read more here.