JABS FOR TODDLERS
Covid vaccine manufacturer plans to inject kids as young as two
CHILDREN as young as two could soon be receiving Moderna jabs with the US manufacturer also revealing plans to make the mRNA vaccine in Australia.
Moderna is due to release its clinical studies on immunising children under 12 in November – only a month after gaining approval for the Covid-19 vaccine to be used by 12 to 15year-olds.
And it can be revealed the vaccines could soon be manufactured here with the company confirming it is in discussions with the Australian government.
“We’re certainly very eager to kind of get that collaboration going,” Moderna chief medical officer Paul Burton said.
“Our CEO has been having discussions with the Australian government about opportunities of bringing manufacturing to Australia.”
CHILDREN as young as two could soon be receiving Moderna jabs with the US manufacturer also revealing plans to make the mRNA vaccine in Australia.
Moderna is due to release its clinical studies on immunising children under 12 in November – only a month after gaining approval for the vaccine to be used by 12 to 15year-olds.
And it can be revealed the vaccines could soon be manufactured here with the company confirming it is in discussions with the Australian government.
“We’re certainly very eager to kind of get that collaboration going,” its chief medical officer, Paul Burton, has told News Corp.
“Our CEO has been having discussions with the Australian government about opportunities of bringing manufacturing to Australia.
“That’s an exciting proposition I think for us and for Australia.”
Pfizer is already seeking approval for its Covid vaccine to be used in children aged over five in the US but Dr Burton said Moderna hoped its jab could be used in even younger children.
“At the moment, it’s been approved for use in adults and children aged over 12 and we’re certainly going down into, you know, infants, two years old,” he said.
“I would think we’ll get those results shortly before the end of the year, maybe November time frame.”
The company is already conducting clinical trials of Covid booster shots that specifically target the Delta and Beta strains of the virus and it is likely this is the vaccine the company could manufacture in Australia.
Moderna’s production method allowed it to include up to 30 different elements in the one vaccine and it can pivot to include any new variants that emerge.
“I’m certain that we are doing a Beta, Delta combination,” Dr Burton said.
“In our cancer program, when we do personalised cancer vaccines, we can put 30 different messenger RNAs so we can we can combine against many different messenger RNAs and proteins.”
Multiple studies have now reported that Moderna’s vaccine, which contains three times more mRNA than Pfizer, is the most effective on the market.
A US Centres for Disease Control found Moderna’s vaccine was 93 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19 hospitalisation, compared with 88 per cent for the Pfizer vaccine and 71 per cent for Johnson and Johnson’s.