Next up in hunt for Covid- 19 vaccine: Testing shots in kids
PFIZER GETS GREEN LIGHT TO START TRIAL SON CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 12 YEARS
The global hunt for a Covid- 19 vaccine for kids is only just beginning — a lagging start that has some US pediatricians worried they may not know if any shots work for young children in time for the next school year.
Older adults may be most vulnerable to the coronavirus, but ending the pandemic will require vaccinating children, too. Last week, Pfizer Inc. received permission to test its vaccine in US kids as young as 12, one of only a handful of attempts around theworld to start exploring if any experimental shots being pushed for adults also can protect children.
“I just figured the more people they have to do tests on, the quicker they can put out a vaccine and people can be safe and healthy,” said 16- year- old Katelyn Evans, who became the first teen to get an injection in the Pfizer study at Cincinnati Children’ s Hospital.
Final- stage studies
Multiple vaccine candidates are in final- stage studies in tens of thousands of adults, and scientists are hopeful that the next few months will bring evidence that at least some of them are safe and effective enough for widespread use.
But when the first shots arrive, they’re unlikely to be recommended for children. Vaccines can’t be given to youngsters unless they’ve been tested in their age group -- a major hurdle in efforts to reopen schools and resume more normal activities that are critical to families’well- being.
“The public doesn’t understand that,” said Dr Evan Anderson of Emory University, whohas been pushing for pediatric testing of Covid- 19 vaccines. While he’s encouraged by Pfizer’s study in adolescents, he finds it “very concerning’’ that children younger than 12 may not have a vaccine by next fall.
Children represent about 10 per cent of Covid- 19 cases documented in the US. And while children are far less likely than adults to get seriously ill, about 120 have died in the US alone, according to a tally by the American Academy of Pediatrics. That’s about how many US children die from flu in an average year. Additionally, a small number have developed a serious inflammatory condition linked to the coronavirus.
Overall, Anderson says Covid19’ s impact on children is greater than some other diseases that require routine pediatric vaccinations.
Aside from their own health risks is the still unanswered question about how easily children can infect others. In a letter to federal health officials, the AAP cited recent evidence that those over age 10may spread the virus just as easil yas adults do.
Globally, pediatric studies are only hesitantly emerging. In China, Sinovac and SinoPharm have opened studies that can test children as young as three.
Notesting until enough data
A British study of a vaccine by AstraZeneca allows for testing of a low dose in certain children but the company says it won’t be recruiting youngsters until it has “sufficient” safety data in adults.
In the US Moderna Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Novavax all hope to begin some pediatric research later in the year, in varying age groups. Doing so is critical, said Dr. Robert Frenck, who directs the Vaccine Research Centre at Cincinnati Children’s.
“If we immunise adolescents — and potentially move down into younger children — we’re going to have the effect of keeping those children from getting infected. But then also they don’t bring the infection home to parents and grandparents,” he said.
Frenck is finding lots of interest in Pfizer’s adolescent testing, with 90 families seeking more information in just a week after his team issued a call for 16- and 17- year- old volunteers. The researchers plan to enroll 12- to 15- year- olds soon.
Assuming Pfizer’s shot is proven to work in adults, Frenck said the key will be if the vaccine revs up adolescents’ immune systems the same way — without different side effects. He said if all goes well, it’s possible scientists may have an answer about the 12- and- older group by spring.
But younger children need their own testing. Anderson, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, said those studies may be more complex because smaller tots may need different doses or, because of their typically more robust immune systems, show different reactions.
“It is quite important for us to begin the process because this will take some time to do the studies the rightway,’’ he said.
It is quite important for us to begin the process because this will take some time to do the studies the right way.”
Dr Evan Anderson | Pediatric infectious disease specialist