The U.S. medicines regulator is set to add a warning to the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines after the CDC said there is a "likely link" between them and cases of heart inflammation.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control will hold an emergency meeting over 226 cases of heart inflammation in young Americans who have received two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna Covid vaccine.
Moderna has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to extend the emergency use of its Covid vaccine to American children aged 12 and over.
A new paper in Clinical Infectious Diseases has shown that the spike protein from an mRNA Covid vaccine is present systemically in the blood from the day of the jab and is not localised to the site of injection.
The vaccine rollout is set to extend to those below the age of 40 from Thursday, with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being offered as alternatives to that made by AstraZeneca "where possible".
England is to begin giving out doses of the Moderna jab – the third vaccine introduced in its national rollout – as everyone over the age of 50 is offered their first dose of a vaccine.
Britain's rollout of the Moderna Covid vaccine began today amid disruptions in its supply of the AstraZeneca jab. The AZ vaccine is facing scrutiny regarding its connection to rare blood clots.
