COVID-19 vaccine for children | Clinical trials may begin in India by mid-2021: Report

A child wearing a protection mask and gloves is seen at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. (Image: Reuters)

Amid the growing COVID-19 cases and emerging new coronavirus strain, the vaccine against COVID-19 promises a return to normal in the not-so-distant future. For people aged 16 years and above, the vaccine shot has been developed.

While the elderly are a high-risk group and on the list of people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine after health care workers and frontline staff, what about the youngest members of society – children? Vaccine manufacturers in the race to develop the vaccine against the contagion believe that progress on paediatric versions is not far behind, Business Standard reported quoting sources.

“Once the immunisation programme starts and one can observe the vaccines in use on a mass-scale, the safety of these investigational products would be established beyond doubt. It is around the middle of the next year that one would plan to start clinical trials for children,” a leading vaccine maker, which is in the final leg of developing a COVID-19 vaccine, told the publication.

The Pfizer vaccine authorised in the United Kingdom and the United States is for people of age 16 years and older. Also, testing began in October in children as young as 12 and is expected to take several more months.

Moderna, which has become the second COVID-19 vaccine to get greenlit in the US, began enrolling study participants ages 12 to 17 this month, and will track them for a year. Testing in children younger than 12 is expected to start in early 2021.

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It is uncertain if the results on younger children will come in time for vaccinations to begin before the next school year.

Positive outcomes in adult studies are reassuring and suggest it is safe to proceed in testing kids, said Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University and director of its vaccine research program.

Even though children usually do not get very sick from COVID-19, they can spread the virus to others, said Dr Robert Frenck, who is the lead researcher for Pfizer’s study in kids at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

(With inputs from agencies)

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