AMA Announces CPT Update for Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Provisional CPT codes assigned to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years of age

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently announced an editorial update to CPT, the nation’s leading medical terminology code set for describing health care procedures and services, that includes new product and administration codes assigned to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to under 5 years of age.

The provisional CPT codes will be effective for use on the condition the FDA grants an Emergency Use Authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to under 5 years of age. The AMA is publishing the CPT code update now to ensure electronic systems across the US health care system are prepared in advance for the potential FDA authorization.

“The AMA supports the goal of extending COVID-19 vaccination protection to a broader age range of children because it has proven highly effective at preventing illness and death,” says AMA President Gerald Harmon, MD. “We strongly urge all parents to get their infants and toddlers vaccinated as soon as they are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.”

The development of CPT codes that clinically distinguish each coronavirus vaccine and dosing schedule allows for data-driven tracking, reporting and analysis that supports planning and allocation during the public health response to the pandemic. To date, 32 unique CPT codes have been created for COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccine development, safety and delivery, explore the AMA webinar series to gain fact-based insights from officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, FDA, and other experts working to protect the health of the public.

To help ensure accurate coding and reporting of COVID-19 vaccines and immunization services, the AMA offers a vaccine code finder resource to help identify the appropriate CPT code combination for the type and dose of COVID-19 vaccine provided to each patient.

For quick reference, the new product code and administration codes assigned to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children in the age range of 6 months to 5 years is:

Product Code

91308     Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) vaccine, mRNA-LNP, spike protein, preservative free, 3 mcg/0.2 mL dosage, diluent reconstituted, tris-sucrose formulation, for intramuscular use

Administration Codes

0081A    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, 3 mcg/0.2 mL dosage, diluent reconstituted, tris-sucrose formulation; first dose

0082A    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, 3 mcg/0.2 mL dosage, diluent reconstituted, tris-sucrose formulation; second dose

Short, medium, and long descriptors for all the new vaccine-specific CPT codes can be accessed on the AMA website, along with other recent modifications to the CPT code set that have helped streamline the public health response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 disease.

Changes to the CPT code set are considered through an open editorial process managed by the CPT Editorial Panel that collects broad input from the health care community and beyond to ensure CPT content reflects the coding demands of digital health, precision medicine, augmented intelligence, and other aspects of a modern health care system. This rigorous editorial process keeps the CPT code set current with contemporary medical science and technology so it can fulfill its vital role as the trusted language of medicine today and the code to its future.  

Source: American Medical Association