Filenews 13 February 2021
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have started testing their vaccines against coronavirus in children over the age of 12, hoping that they will have the results by the summer, so as to pave the way for vaccination of adolescents.
Depending on how vaccines "work" in this age group, companies will then also test children under the age of 12. So to many parents' question "when will my child be vaccinated," the short answer is "not before the end of the summer," according to the New York Times.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) typically takes a few weeks to evaluate data from a clinical trial and give its approval to vaccination. Three other companies, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax, also plan to test their own vaccines on children, but lag behind Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Usually trials of new drugs and vaccines start in adults and then descend at younger ages. Some vaccines, such as pneumococcal and meningococcal, were first tested in children because they primarily prevent childhood diseases.
Although the vast majority of serious cases and deaths due to Covid-19 relate to old age, worldwide there are also cases of children who, when infected with coronavirus, need admission to hospital or ICU. On the other hand, in order to achieve effective collective immunity ("herd"), vaccination of children will probably be necessary if it is required to be covered with immunity by more than 70% of the population. Given that some adults are reluctant to be vaccinated or unable due to a health problem, vaccination of children may also be necessary, according to infectious disease expert Dr Emily Erbelding of the US National Institutes of Health.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved for the over-16s and the U.S. company continues testing it on 2,259 volunteers 12 to 15 years old. Teenagers are about twice as likely to become infected with the coronavirus than younger children, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A Pfizer spokesperson said the results in adolescents will be known over the summer and clarified that children under the age of 12 will need a new study and possibly a modification of the dose regimen. This study in younger children is expected to begin later this year, after the results are released for children aged 12-15.
Moderna began testing its vaccine in December in adolescents aged 12 to 17 and plans to include about 3,000 volunteers, awaiting results around the middle of the year, according to a company spokesman. Based on the findings, the US company also plans to start studying children six months to 11 years old. Infants may have some antibodies against the coronavirus at birth, which they acquired from mothers vaccinated or infected with the virus, but this protection is considered unlikely by scientists to last throughout the first year of life. Due to their relatively still weak immune system, babies may be vulnerable to infection if transmission to the community is high. The tests will also assess the safety of vaccines in children to allay any concerns of parents.
Given that the risk of Covid-19 infection is lower in children, public opinion research has shown that some parents are sceptical about the urgent need to vaccinate their children against coronavirus, which is why, according to scientists, it is important to prove that vaccines are very safe in children.
Source: CYPE - RES
