On Oct. 12, 2022, Moderna announced that it had received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its BA.4/BA.5 Omicron-targeting bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine, mRNA-1273.222, in children and adolescents 6 to 17 years of age.

The authorizations were based on a 25 ﾵg booster dose for children ages 6 to 11 years old and a 50 ﾵg booster dose for adolescents 12 to 17 years old, each following a completed primary series of any of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines or a previous booster. The booster doses of mRNA-1273.222 each contain mRNA encoding for the spike protein of BA.4/BA.5 as well as mRNA encoding for the original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.