Children from New York, USA have reportedly been signing up for vaccine trials from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca since December last year. As reported by Strait Times, children are now joining the millions of people in the US who got vaccinated since mid-December.
One participant of the trial is 15-year old William Brown. With his parent's approval, the freshman student signed up for a trial of Pfizer's vaccines last December.
In an interview with Strait Times, he said "I miss seeing all my friends, and being in person, talking to my teachers. Hopefully, me doing this will allow people my age to get back to school."
With the hope to bring things back to how they used to be, such as having face-to-face education and socialization among children, many kids have agreed to sign up for the vaccination. Experts also note that it is necessary for children to be vaccinated to fully defeat the pandemic and bring back the economy.
Vaccinating Children Can Prevent Spread of Virus People at Higher Risk
According to Business Times, Pfizer and Moderna has taken various measures to ensure that vaccines are safe for children. Since December last year, these two companies have been recruiting numerous participants. Moreover, AstraZeneca is also planning its testing for 12-18 year olds beginning next month.
The closing of schools and nurseries to help prevent the spread of virus has increased the burden among working parents. Moreover, preventing children from socializing with each other may be detrimental to their development. However, experts note that the main reason children should be vaccinated is to decrease the risk of spread to people who are at a higher risk.
Professor Andrew Pollard, lead investigator on the Oxford trials said "The main rationale for vaccinating children, given that they're relatively unaffected, would be to try and have an impact on transmission of the virus."
Conducting Children's Vaccine Trials are Safe
Prof. Pollard reports that 120 children will be recruited from in both 12-18 and 6-11 age groups for the vaccine trial in Oxford. Later on, AstraZeneca will lead a greater testing for children in the US. however, information about the size and time has not yet been disclosed as of the time being.
Data scientists and experts look at different factors before allowing vaccination of children. They assess transmission rate of virus from children, safety, and other factors. Prof Lee Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said through Strait Times that there's nothing much to worry about vaccinating your kids. "We have a long history of ensuring clinical trials among children are quite safe," he said.
"That's why you enrol in phases. At the point that you get to paediatric trials, you've already gone through adult trials where they've demonstrated safety." he added.
Experts note that vaccine shots are tested in older kids first before giving it to kids of younger ages. Moreover, they go through numerous safety testings before being given to testers. As of now, the most we can do is to wait for actual results from the testings. Although we cannot guarantee 100% success for these trials as of the moment, allowing children testings will be a great leap in bringing back "normalcy."
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Written by Nikki D
