US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Thursday that its joint vaccine with German company BioNTech SE would begin testing in children under 12. The vaccine is currently authorized by US regulators for ages 16 and older.
“Together with our partner BioNTech, we announced a global study to better evaluate our COVID-19 vaccine in healthy children aged 6 months to 11 years,” said Albert Bourla, CEO and President of Pfizer, in a tweet. “We are proud to start this much-needed study for children and families waiting for a possible vaccine option.”
Pfizer is the last company to test its vaccine on young children, after Moderna announced tests in the same age group earlier this month. Johnson & Johnson also plans to test its vaccine on children and babies.
The BioNTech-Pfizer two-dose vaccine will be tested first at different strengths of 10, 20 and 30 micrograms in a Phase I / II study of 144 participants. Pfizer spokesman Sharon Castillo said the test volunteers received their first shots on Wednesday.
Subsequently, the company will proceed with a final stage test of 4,500 participants. Efficacy data are expected for the second half of 2021.
When can the vaccine be given to children?
Pfizer expects the vaccine to be administered to children in early 2022. So far, no coronavirus vaccine has been authorized for children under the age of 16 in the United States, with only the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine being given on 16 and 17 years old.
The BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine is currently being tested on children aged 12 to 15 years in the United States and Europe, with data from that test expected in the coming weeks.
Why should children be vaccinated against COVID-19?
Although children do not usually have severe symptoms of coronavirus, experts believe they need to be vaccinated to achieve collective immunity. In the United States, for example, people under the age of 18 represent about a fifth of the US population of 330 million.
“If we really want to get collective immunity, it will require up to 80 percent of our population to be vaccinated, and we really can’t do that without vaccinating children,” said Lee Savio, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Beers told AFP news agency earlier this month.
wd / sms (Reuters, AFP)