Pfizer’s vaccine trial in children under the age of 12 is already underway.
The first phase of the trials is to evaluate the safety of the vaccine in younger children and to determine what dose of vaccine should be given in the next larger phases of testing.
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The initial study includes just 144 children who will all receive the actual vaccine. Nearly two weeks after getting the vaccine, 9-year-old twins Alejandra and Marisol Gerardo are doing well. They are the first participants in the trial for children under 12.
The only side effect they experienced was a sore arm. Their parents are both doctors and enrolled them after studying the vaccine’s safety profile in adults and discussing it as a family.
Duke Health is one of four medical centers conducting Pfizer’s phase one trial on kids age 5 to 11. Soon, it will start including those as young as 6 months old.
Moderna is also testing its vaccine on young children. Johnson and Johnson has plans to do the same.
Pfizer hopes to have a vaccine for younger children authorized by early 2022.
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