Sinovac says his vaccine is safe for children as young as 3

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Sinovac said its COVID-19 vaccine is safe in children aged 3 to 17, based on preliminary data, and presented the data to Chinese drug regulators.

More than 70 million injections of the Sinovac vaccine have been given worldwide, including in China.

China has approved its use in adults, but it has not yet been used in children, because their immune systems may respond differently to the vaccine.

Initial and intermediate clinical tests on more than 550 individuals showed that the vaccine would induce an immune response, said Gang Zeng, Sinovac’s medical director, at a news conference on Monday.

Two recipients developed high fever in response to the vaccine, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old. The rest of the trial subjects experienced mild symptoms, said Zeng.

“Showing that the vaccine is safe and can trigger a potentially useful immune response against SARS-CoV-2 is very welcome,” said Eng Eong Ooi, a professor at the Duke NUS School of Medicine in Singapore who is co-leading the development of a separate vaccine project for covid19. However, he said that the data presented publicly by the company was not sufficient to give a conclusive answer about the findings.

Children are much less likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19, but they are still at risk and can spread the virus. And although vaccination campaigns around the world have focused on adults, children will need to be immunized to end the pandemic.

The Pfizer vaccine is released for use from the age of 16 and is being studied between the ages of 12-16. Moderna has been studying its vaccine in children from 12 years old and, last week, announced a new study testing its use in children under 12 years.

State-owned Sinopharm, which has two COVID-19 vaccines, is also investigating the effectiveness of its vaccines in children. The company said in January that it presented clinical data to regulators, although it was unclear whether it was for one or both vaccines.