Health Care — Feds clear updated COVID shots for young kids

In another example of how we’re living in the future: NASA’s mission to deflect an asteroid — where it smashed a probe into a space rock on purpose — has been declared a success. 

Today in health, the bivalent omicron-specific COVID-19 boosters have been authorized for use in children as young as 5, expanding the fall and winter vaccine campaign. 

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

FDA authorizes boosters for kids as young as 5 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday announced it has broadened its emergency authorization of the bivalent COVID-19 boosters to include children between the ages of 5 and 11. 

The FDA’s decision grants Moderna’s request for authorization to administer its bivalent booster to children as young as 6 and grants Pfizer’s request to administer its own booster to children as young as 5. 

• “Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. 
• “Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” Marks added. 

Prior to this, Pfizer’s updated omicron-specific vaccine was the only bivalent shot authorized for use in children, those as young as 12, while Moderna’s booster was only permitted for use in people 18 and over.  

This decision from the FDA falls in line with what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in September, stating in documents that it was anticipating a recommendation of boosters for young children in early to mid-October. 

After FDA’s action, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky approved the vaccines for the younger population, clearing the way for their distribution.

Read more here. 

Abortion a strong motivator for Dems

Good news for Democrats leading up to the midterms: half of American voters said the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade has made them more motivated to vote in this year’s elections, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll. 

About two-thirds of Democrats and half of independents cited the Supreme Court’s decision as a motivator for voting, as did a third of Republicans. 

Democrats are betting that abortion will be enough of a motivator for them to keep control of the House and Senate. Candidates are focusing much of their messaging on abortion rights,…