THE HAGUE: The European Union's drug watchdog Thursday approved Moderna's anti-Covid shot for children aged six to 11, the second vaccine to be approved for younger children in the 27-member bloc.

"The EMA's human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended granting an extension of indication for the Covid-19 vaccine Spikevax to include use in children aged 6 to 11," the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency said in a statement.

The jab, developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna, has already been approved for adults and children aged 12 and above.

"As in the older age group, the vaccine is given as two injections in the muscles of the upper arm, four weeks apart," the EMA said.

Pfizer/BionTech's anti-Covid shot called Comirnaty was greenlit for children aged five to 11 in November.

The regulator has so far approved five vaccines for use in the EU: Pfizer and Moderna, which use messenger RNA technology, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which use viral vector technology, and Novavax, which is based on a spike protein produced in a laboratory.