A panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Thursday to recommend Moderna’s MRNA, +0.71% COVID vaccine for children and adolescents aged 6 to 17. The move is expected to lead CDC head Dr. Rochelle Walensky to sign off on the vaccine for that age group, offering a second option along with the vaccine developed by Pfizer PFE, +2.99% and German partner BioNTech BNTX, +1.32%. The agency authorized the Moderna vaccine for adults in December of 2020 but has been reviewing it for a younger age group because of reports it caused heart problems for young boys. The news comes as U.S. cases are averaging 99,594 a day, down 9% from two weeks ago, according to a New York Times tracker. The country is averaging 30,726 hospitalizations a day, up 5% from two weeks ago. The daily death toll stands at 327 on average, down 5% from two weeks ago. On a global basis, total cases are now above 542.1 million. Total deaths are above 6.32 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. still leading the way with 86.8 million cases and 1,015,342 deaths.
