The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is scheduled to meet Wednesday, June 15, to consider whether the agency should authorize use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for young children. Last month, in preparation for the approval, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced an editorial update to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) with new product and administration codes for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months through 5 years old.

These provisional CPT codes are dependent on the condition that the Moderna pediatric COVID-19 vaccine candidate is granted emergency use authorization by the FDA. The FDA announced Friday, June 10, that the Moderna vaccine was effective in preventing symptomatic illness in children younger than 6 years and had minimal side effects.

The new product code assigned to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for young children is 91311, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) vaccine, mRNA-LNP, spike protein, preservative free, 25 mcg/0.25 mL dosage, for intramuscular use.

The newly assigned administration codes are:

0111A: Immunization administration by intramuscular injection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) vaccine, mRNA-LNP, spike protein, preservative free, 25 mcg/0.25 mL dosage; first dose

0112A: Immunization administration by intramuscular injection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) vaccine, mRNA-LNP, spike protein, preservative free, 25 mcg/0.25 mL dosage; second dose

Short, medium, and long descriptors for the new vaccine-specific CPT codes are available on the AMA website.

Sources:

https://www.fda.gov/media/159189/download

https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-announces-cpt-update-pediatric-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-1