Physicians - maximum of 0.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
ABIM Diplomates - maximum of 0.50 ABIM MOC points
Nurses - 0.50 ANCC Contact Hour(s) (0.5 contact hours are in the area of pharmacology)
Pharmacists - 0.50 Knowledge-based ACPE (0.050 CEUs)
Physician Assistant - 0.50 AAPA hour(s) of Category I credit
IPCE - 0.50 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit
This activity is intended for pediatricians, infectious disease physicians, internists, nurses, nurse practitioners, family medicine/primary care clinicians, pharmacists, physician assistants, and other members of the healthcare team caring for young children needing vaccination against COVID-19 and their parents.
The goal of this activity is for members of the healthcare team to be better able to describe safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy data from recent trial data for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in children.
Upon completion of this activity, participants will:
Medscape, LLC requires every individual in a position to control educational content to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies that have occurred within the past 24 months. Ineligible companies are organizations whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
All relevant financial relationships for anyone with the ability to control the content of this educational activity are listed below and have been mitigated. Others involved in the planning of this activity have no relevant financial relationships.
This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive 0.50 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change.
Medscape, LLC designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ . Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 0.50 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
The European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS)-European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME) has an agreement of mutual recognition of continuing medical education (CME) credit with the American Medical Association (AMA). European physicians interested in converting AMA PRA Category 1 credit™ into European CME credit (ECMEC) should contact the UEMS (www.uems.eu).
College of Family Physicians of Canada Mainpro+® participants may claim certified credits for any AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)™, up to a maximum of 50 credits per five-year cycle. Any additional credits are eligible as non-certified credits. College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) members must log into Mainpro+® to claim this activity.
Through an agreement between the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, medical practitioners participating in the Royal College MOC Program may record completion of accredited activities registered under the ACCME’s “CME in Support of MOC” program in Section 3 of the Royal College’s MOC Program.
Awarded 0.50 contact hour(s) of nursing continuing professional development for RNs and APNs; 0.50 contact hours are in the area of pharmacology.
Medscape designates this continuing education activity for 0.50 contact hour(s) (0.050 CEUs) (Universal Activity Number: JA0007105-0000-23-115-H06-P).
Medscape, LLC has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 0.50 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid until 4/21/2024. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.
For questions regarding the content of this activity, contact the accredited provider for this CME/CE activity noted above. For technical assistance, contact [email protected]
There are no fees for participating in or receiving credit for this online educational activity. For information on applicability
and acceptance of continuing education credit for this activity, please consult your professional licensing board.
This activity is designed to be completed within the time designated on the title page; physicians should claim only those
credits that reflect the time actually spent in the activity. To successfully earn credit, participants must complete the
activity online during the valid credit period that is noted on the title page. To receive
AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, you must receive a minimum score of 75% on the post-test.
Follow these steps to earn CME/CE credit*:
You may now view or print the certificate from your CME/CE Tracker. You may print the certificate but you cannot alter it.
Credits will be tallied in your CME/CE Tracker and archived for 6 years; at any point within this time period you can print
out the tally as well as the certificates from the CME/CE Tracker.
*The credit that you receive is based on your user profile.
CME / ABIM MOC / CE Released: 4/21/2023
Valid for credit through: 4/21/2024, 11:59 PM EST
processing....
Note: The information on the coronavirus outbreak is continually evolving. The content within this activity serves as a historical reference to the information that was available at the time of this publication. We continue to add to the collection of activities on this subject as new information becomes available. It is the policy of Medscape Education to avoid the mention of brand names or specific manufacturers in accredited educational activities. However, manufacturer names related to COVID-19 vaccines are provided in this activity in an effort to promote clarity. The use of manufacturer names should not be viewed as an endorsement by Medscape of any specific product or manufacturer.
COVID-19 is generally mild in children aged < 5 years, but severe disease, hospitalizations, and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) can occur. In a previous study by Anderson and colleagues, they investigated the safety and efficacy of a 2-dose series of the Moderna vaccine (mRNA-1273) for children aged 6 months to 5 years and found the series to have an acceptable safety profile and to elicit immune responses consistent with higher doses given to older children, adolescents, and adults. Their results were published in the November 3, 2022 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.[1]
BNT162b2 vaccine has US licensure for COVID-19 immunization in persons aged ≥ 12 years and emergency use authorization (EUA) for children aged 5 to 11 years. In children aged 2 to 4 years, a 2-dose primary series failed some criteria for immunobridging success. Emerging evidence suggests that 3 mRNA vaccine doses are needed to enhance immune responses against Omicron. The current study by Muñoz and colleagues therefore investigated a third 3-μg BNT162b2 dose given ≥ 8 weeks after dose 2 in children aged 6 months to 4 years.
In the current study, the authors show the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (BNT162b2) is safe and highly effective against COVID-19 in children as young as 6 months old.
A 3-dose series of the vaccine was 73% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in children aged 6 months to 4 years old, the researchers found. They also discovered that an examination of reactions and safety results “did not suggest any concerns.”
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, included 1776 children aged 6 months to 2 years and 2750 children aged 2 to 4 years. Researchers randomly assigned children to receive either the 3-shot series of the BNT162b2 vaccine or placebo shots. Participants received the first dose of the vaccine by March 31, 2022, and lived in Brazil, Finland, Poland, Spain, or the United States.[2]
The authors wrote that having safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for young children is important to protect them from hospitalization or death and because young children play a role in spreading highly transmissible variants of the virus. COVID-19 hospitalizations for children younger than 5 years old peaked at a rate of 14.5 per 100,000 in January 2022, the authors wrote, noting that the Omicron virus variant appeared to affect young children more severely than the previous variant, Delta.
When the researchers evaluated vaccine effectiveness by age group, they found that it prevented symptomatic COVID-19 in 75.8% of children aged 6 months to 2 years and in 71.8% of children aged 2 to 4 years.
Less than 0.5% of participants reported severe reactions to the vaccine. The most common reactions reported were tenderness or pain. Reactions typically appeared within the first couple days after vaccine administration and resolved within 2 days. Participants reported zero cases of inflammation of the heart muscle or its lining.
Uptake of COVID-19 vaccines for young children has been lower than other age groups in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 10% of children younger than 5 years have received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 5% have completed a primary vaccine series.[3]
Please see Study Highlights below for a synopsis of recent studies published on the safety and efficacy of the 2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that have received EUA from the FDA for children to aged older than 6 months.