As an important step towards ending the coronavirus pandemic, children as young as 6 years old will be tested with the Covid-19 vaccineThe University of Oxford has launched a new study to assess the safety of hair vaccine with AstraZeneca in children for the first time.
In a new statement, the university says study will assess immune response in children ages 6 to 17, a hit in the age group difficult due to school closures as a result of the pandemic. About 300 volunteers are enrolled and are expected to receive their first vaccinations this month.
In the single-blind, randomized study, up to 240 participants will receive the COVID vaccine, while the control group will receive a meningitis vaccine, which is safe for children and causes a similar response.
“While most children are relatively unaffected by the coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell from the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and adolescents, as some children may benefit from vaccination, ”said Andrew Pollard. the principal investigator of the trials. “These new studies will expand our understanding of SARS-CoV2 control to younger age groups.”
A number of vaccines, including the Oxford / AstraZeneca formulas and the Pfizer and Moderna formulas, which are widely used worldwide, have shown strong efficacy in preventing symptomatic infection. New data from Oxford earlier this month also provided the first evidence that the vaccine can not only prevent people from getting sick with COVID-19, but also help significantly reduce its spread in the community.
The UK approved it emergency use of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine in late December. The vaccine’s approval was widely celebrated because it is cheaper to manufacture and easier to transport and store than other approved vaccines.
Researchers hope that expanding the vaccine to children will help alleviate some of the pandemic’s negative impact on young people around the world.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound negative impact on the education, social development and emotional well-being of children and adolescents, in addition to the presentations of diseases and rare serious diseases,” said Rinn Song of the Oxford Vaccine Group. “It is therefore important to collect data on the safety and immune response to our coronavirus vaccine in these age groups so that they can potentially benefit from inclusion in vaccination programs in the near future.”
Clinical trials are also on the road in the US from vaccine developers Pfizer and Moderna to test the safety and efficacy of the doses in children. Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month that he hopes American children will be vaccinated “by the time we get to the late spring and early summer.”