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Moderna begins testing in younger children.
Many parents want to know when COVID-19 vaccines will be available for children and how researchers will make sure they’re safe for children.
Pfizer’s vaccine has already been authorized for people 16 years old and older. Clinical trials are in progress to test the vaccines in older children.
Moderna announced on Monday that the first young children have received doses of their vaccine, and that includes some babies.
Moderna has officially kicked off the second phase of its “Kid-Cove” study. It gave the first doses to children age six months to 11 years old.
They plan to enroll approximately 6,750 children in the United States and Canada. The trial is in two parts. The first part will test different doses of the vaccine and see how the children respond.
Those results will determine what dose is used in the second part of the trial. Some children will receive the actual vaccine and some will receive a placebo. The goal is to provide critical answers on how effective and safe the vaccine will be for the youngest Americans.
Maria Beck, 13, is a Moderna vaccine trial participant.
“I heard the word vaccine and I immediately just sort of fell in,” Beck said.
Beck is from Indiana and is participating in the trial for older children. She received her second dose last week.
She doesn’t know if she’s receiving the actual vaccine or the placebo. But she did have a few side effects.
“My head sort of hurt. My throat sort of felt dry. My arm did feel a little bit hurt,” Beck said.
The Moderna trial for younger children is taking place at 14 sites in eight states but not in Michigan.
Some of the older children participating in the trials are the children of healthcare workers, including some whose parents participated in the adult vaccine trials.
It’s something that speaks to the confidence they have in the safety of the research and their desire to help end the pandemic.