1/2 dose of Novartis shot in DC for kids under 4?

[Anonymous]

So it is my understanding that the Novartis shot is for people 4 and over. A poster on another thread confirmed that her child younger than 4 got the Novartis shot and was just given half the dose (the other 1/2 was squirted out prior to giving the actual shot)at a DC clinic . Other people supposedly have asked and were told that this is not possible and illegal. Has anyone else been successful at getting a 1/2 dose of the Novartis shot in a DC clinic and if so which one. Can this really be done? Is it that the syringe just contains the full dose and kids only need 1/2 or it it really not approved for kids under 4?

[Anonymous]

OP: Novartis formulation is only approved for kids 4 and up.

It's unclear why the FDA did not approve the Novartis shot for kids under 4.

But it is worthy to note that the FDA HAS approved other manufactuers of single shot for kids under 4 (just not Novartis).

Therefore, if you find a doctor who is willing to give you the Novartis shot, they are doing so at their own risk (and would they be willing to take that on)? Maybe you will find somebody but gosh that seems risky for a doctor.

The other shots apparently are on schedule to be distributed in the next few weeks and those are safe for kids under 4.

From what I have been able to understand, the Novartis pre-filled shot is actually made differently from the other prefilled shot which is why it still has trace amounts whereas the others do not.

I'm no doctor, but my concern is that there is a specific reason why Novartis was not approved for under 2 but the others were approved (kind of like how the flu mist is not approved for kids under 2 but ok for kids above 2--there is obvioulsy a reason for the age limit).

I just wish there was more information on why its not approved for the under 4 crowd!!


Novartis’s injected vaccine: Approved for anyone 4 years and older. It comes in two forms:

Prefilled single-dose syringes with a trace amount of mercury (less than 1 mcg because 99% of it is filtered out).
Multidose bottle with ten doses WITH 25 mcg of mercury per dose.

Other ingredients include: the viral proteins, sodium chloride, phosphate, egg proteins, two antibiotics, betapropiolactone, nonylphenol ethoxylate.