Next up in vaccine trials? Teens sacrifice for science
Houston-area siblings among those joining research to ‘help the world’
Animi and Adonye Williams just want life to be normal again. Animi, 14, is a freshman at Houston Academy for International Studies. Adonye, 16, is a junior at Energy Institute High School. The Humble teens have been learning online for nearly a year now — and they want it to end so badly, they volunteered to participate in Moderna’s clinical trial for COVID-19 vaccines on kids.
“This benefits everyone someday,” Animi said over the phone from their home, where the family had just recovered power and was tending to a burst pipe.
While the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration in adults, researchers are still collecting data on how both vaccines affect the youngest and oldest parts of the population.
As of February, COVID-19 vaccines are available to people in Texas’ 1A and 1B groups. 1B includes adults 65 and older, and people 16 to 65 who have a chronic illness that puts them at higher risk for complications and death from the virus. Federal regulators say the Pfizer vaccine is safe for use in people 16 and older, while the Moderna vaccine is safe for people 18 and
older.
In Houston, DM Clinical Research and the Texas Center for Drug Development are enrolling teens in a trial to see if the Moderna vaccine is effective in kids 12 to 17.
If the vaccine trials go smoothly, researchers hope the FDA will authorize COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use for 25 million teens — 7 percent of the U.S. population — by the end of the year.
“These kids have not been able to participate fully in life and this makes them feel empowered to help the country,” said Elizabeth Hoff, the DM Clinical Research’s executive director.
How it works
When a drug or vaccine is first tested, manufacturers usually begin by testing it on the general adult population. Testing on other parts of the population, such as children or immunocompromised people, comes later, and COVID-19 vaccine development is no exception. Adolescents may have a different immune response to the COVID vaccine than adults, so researchers look at how the vaccine affects them in a separate clinical trial.
It’s crucial to see how the vaccine performs in kids and teens, said Dr. James Versalovic, pediatrician-inchief at Texas Children’s Hospital. The hospital has cared for more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients — some of whom have developed heart and neurological conditions as a result.
“The more we learn, the more committed we are to preventing the spread of COVID-19 among children and teenagers,” Versalovic said.
Moderna will enroll 3,000 teenagers in the study, including more than 100 Houston-area teens.
Trial participants will receive the same vaccine doses as adults — an initial shot, then a follow-up four weeks later. During the appointment for the first shot, clinicians take the teens’ vitals, perform a nasal swab to confirm if they have a COVID infection and draw their blood.
The families who have signed up their children for the vaccine have already taken them in for first doses. Researchers are still enrolling teens in the COVID vaccine trial over the next few weeks.
Some of those participants will receive a placebo vaccine.
For the first week, the teens tap through a daily check-in on a smartphone app called Medidata, which evaluates them for COVID-19 symptoms and allergic reactions. Researchers call one week later to see how they’re feeling, and check in several times during the trial.
For participating, each kid can earn up to $1,000, according to DM Clinical Research. The amount they receive is based on the length of their appointments, keeping up with their phone journals and answering researchers’ calls. Drug developers usually pay trial participants, although the amounts vary.
‘Help the world’
Fini Tuamokomo, the Williams siblings’ mother, found out about the clinical trial in a group for local moms on Facebook. Moderna wanted kids ages 12 to 17, particularly Black teenagers. “The Black community is really scared because of previous instances with medicine and we distrust it,” Tuamokomo said.
So she signed up her two youngest. Tuamokomo, a state social worker, has already been vaccinated, as has her oldest son, Amieh.
The Williams said they were a little skeptical at first. With false information floating around on social media and none of their peers vaccinated, they worried about its safety.
The siblings received their first doses on Feb. 14 — Tuamokomo had to stay in the car to watch their two miniature schnauzers, Linc and Liam, so Animi livestreamed parts of the first dose appointment from the exam room.
“During that, I was a roller coaster of emotions,” Animi said. “I don’t have a huge pain tolerance, but I needed to get out of my comfort zone.”
“I took it like a champ,” Adonye said.
There’s a chance that the Williams siblings received placebos. In that case, they’d be first in line for a real shot when it’s authorized.
So far, they’ve felt little other than sore arms and fatigue on the second day.
Animi and Adonye have made more than $200 from the trial. Adonye plans to put his toward maintaining his car, while Animi wants to save it — or perhaps spend a little on herself when she browses Amazon.
“They might as well help the world and get paid for it at the same time,” Tuamokomo said.
What’s next
As vaccine supply increases, researchers hope that more people will qualify for and consider an immunization — including those who were previously infected with COVID-19.
“We’re confident that vaccine-induced immunity will be highly protective for reinfection as well,” said Versalovic, the Texas Children’s expert.
DM Clinical Research is looking for more teens, along with trial participants 60 and older to help with further COVID vaccine research. Researchers are running seven trials with the firm. Soon, the company expects to open vaccine trials to kids as young as 6 months.
Teens are finding their “hero spirit,” Hoff said, and excited to participate in scientific research.
Many of them look forward to going back to school in-person, participating in sports and youth groups and visiting their families.
Tuamokomo’s family is among them — the first thing they plan to do when the pandemic ends and everyone is fully vaccinated is drive to Alabama to visit their grandmother, whom they have only seen through a window at her nursing home in the last year.
Now that everyone in Tuamokomo’s family has received at least one dose of the vaccine, they see themselves as ambassadors to get the word out.
“I needed to go out of my comfort zone and do it,” Animi said. “It’s something that can change the world in a positive way. People can be safe out here, go back to school and won’t have to wear masks. It’s just to make sure this generation gets better.”
“It’s something that can change the world in a positive way. … It’s just to make sure this generation gets better.”
Animi Williams, 14