One in four children with COVID-19 symptoms develop “long COVID,” according to data pooled from 21 earlier studies conducted in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. Also, according to a study reported on March 14 in JAMA Pediatrics, women who wish to pass protective antibodies induced by COVID-19 vaccines to their babies via breast milk should opt for the mRNA shots from Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech.

Pfizer has begun a mid-to-late-stage study of the company’s antiviral COVID-19 pill for non-hospitalized children aged 6-17 years who are at high risk of developing severe illness.

As Russia continues to bombard cities across Ukraine in artillery strikes, thousands of people have huddled in underground metro stations and bunkers to escape the devastation of those attacks. But another type of attack could result from this – a new outbreak of COVID-19 infection. 

Florida’s top health official said on March 7 the state would recommend against the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children, breaking with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration turned down Malvern, Pa.-based Ocugen’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) request for Covaxin in children ages 2 to 18 years. Covaxin is a Covid-19 vaccine the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is co-developing with India’s Bharat Biotech.

Two doses of the Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine was protective against severe disease in children aged 5 to 11 during the recent Omicron variant surge, but quickly lost most of its ability to prevent infection in the age group, according to a study by New York State researchers.

With the Omicron surge waning – at least in the United States – there is speculation that the COVID-19 pandemic may be in its end stages, although some experts warn that this could be premature.

On the day the public and members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee were going to get a look at Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine data for children under 5 years old, the companies pulled the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) submission.

U.S. President Joe Biden on February 10 said mask requirements for children would likely to start to fall away given federal plans to begin vaccinating children under the age of 5, but said it was probably premature to drop COVID mask requirements entirely.

Jane Qiu, a freelance science writer based in Beijing, published an overview of her efforts to investigate the lab-leak theory for the origin of COVID-19. In another update, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet on February 15 to discuss an amended Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years of age.