Moderna says it’s working on a submission to Health Canada for the approval of a COVID vaccine for children under six. The biotech company’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Burton says two shots given to this age group proved to be about 40% to 50% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

“The number that we see here is exactly the number that we would see in adults as well so it was completely expected but that number is still very positive and means that you can reduce the risk of getting symptomatic COVID-19 by about half,” said Dr. Burton.

To date, Health Canada has only approved m-R-N-A COVID-19 vaccines for children over the age of five.

The long-awaited move is another step towards potentially opening shots for millions of youngsters by summer.

Morderna today asked U-S regulators to authorize low doses of its vaccine for children between six months and five years of age.

Meanwhile, Moderna is expected to announce tomorrow it intends to build a Canadian production facility in the Montreal area.