When will I get the COVID-19 vaccine for children?

According to Maldonado, vaccines are usually first tested in adults before being evaluated in children.

“Generally, at some point in the process, they start taking tests with their children,” Maldonado said.

A clinical trial conducted in adults this year involved tens of thousands of participants. Early data suggest that the vaccine is effective and safe, but more research will be done after it is released.

Vaccines appear to provide an effective immune response and do not seem to promote the violent inflammatory immune response that some people were concerned about.

“It’s a normal safe operation. We first test things in adults, make sure it’s safe and immunogenic, and then move on to children,” he said. Dr. Beth Thiren, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, points out that this process can vary depending on the disease.

She explained that the drug is usually tested first in older children and then in younger children.

PfizerFor example, we recently started testing vaccines in children over the age of 12. Other major manufacturers, AstraZeneca and Moderna, have not yet begun testing vaccines for children.

The study should look at the dose, number of doses, and interval between doses to determine if these factors need to be adjusted for the child.

Once the vaccine is shown to be safe for older children, the trial can slowly and carefully incorporate younger children.

Maldonado said the trials for children are much smaller than some trials for adults and are expected to help speed up the process.

Because the safety of the vaccine has been shown to be promising for adults, studies in children need only involve hundreds to thousands of children to determine efficacy.

“If we can confirm the safety of these large-scale clinical trials in adults and prove that these vaccines are generally safe in humans, the FDA will [Food and Drug Administration] And most others will be convinced that you won’t have to study tens of thousands of children, “Maldonado explained.

It will be a test to see if vaccinated children are infected with the virus and if their antibody response is similar to what adults produce to protect children from severe illness.

If the antibody response in the child is sufficient, the FDA may approve the vaccine under the Emergency License for Children (EUA).

Maldonado said this process is also occurring in other vaccines. Researchers will also continue to look at the children over time to understand the durability of the vaccine.

There may be large trials to examine safety and efficacy, but it can be longer.

Maldonado said he hopes the trial will start soon, as it takes time to conduct the trial and estimate the outcome of the results.

“We want to be able to vaccinate for children and adults sometime in 2021,” said Maldonado, hoping to see vaccines for children in the summer or fall of 2021. I added that there is.

Also, it will take some time for distribution to increase, Thielen said. This makes the target date for the second half of 2021 even more likely.

In general, children are at a lower risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19 than older people.

Rarely, some children develop a condition called multi-organ inflammatory syndrome in their children, or MIS-C, A prominent inflammatory reaction that damages organs.

Children also tend to be infected with the virus quietly because many people infected with the virus develop mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all.

Vaccines are aimed at preventing severe illness, and it is unclear whether the vaccine can completely prevent infection in some people or reduce virus shedding and infection.

This is an important factor to watch, as Siren explained, as it can help cope with asymptomatic shedding, especially for children.

Vaccines have long been a way to reduce infections in the community. For example Past research We have found that vaccination of children with the flu can protect the entire community, especially infants and the elderly at high risk of complications.

“What if it’s not just your child, but what if they’re spending time with their grandparents and other older adults? Not only are they thinking about what will happen to them, but they’re virus to others. Is it possible to infect the virus? “Siren said.

The vaccine may be distributed to certain adults within a few weeks, but children may not have access to the vaccine until late 2021.

Clinical trials conducted to date have focused on the safety and efficacy of vaccines in adults.

Pediatric infectious disease doctors want to see younger children in clinical trials soon to speed up the process and help them get vaccinated sooner.