LONDON – Britain’s Oxford University said on Saturday it would test the impact of its Covid-19 vaccine on children, becoming the first developer to test whether its coronavirus vaccine is effective in young people.
The trial will evaluate the “safety and immune responses” in children and young adults aged 6 to 17 from the vaccine they developed with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, the university said in a statement.
The test, which will enroll 300 volunteers, will take place in three English cities, London, Southampton and Bristol, the statement added. Vaccines are expected in late February, he said.
“Although most children are not relatively affected by the coronavirus and are unlikely to become ill with the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people, as some children may benefit from vaccination,” said the professor. Andrew Pollard, lead investigator for the Oxford vaccine trial.
The two-dose Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and easier to distribute than some rivals.
AstraZeneca has a goal of producing 3 billion doses this year and said it has several orders from countries like the United States, Canada, Japan and Brazil, in addition to the United Kingdom
Britain has the most deadly coronavirus outbreak in Europe, with more than 116,000 deaths, and is in its third national blockade as authorities try to contain new variants of more transmissible viruses. Most schools are also closed.
In recent weeks, concerns have been raised about the vaccine’s effectiveness in global mutations, in particular a variant detected in South Africa.
Earlier this month, the United Kingdom also announced that it would run tests on the vaccine mix. Patients will receive different vaccines for their first and second doses: either the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine followed by the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, or vice versa.
Britain has defended its public vaccination efforts, as more than 14 million people out of its population of about 66 million have received their first dose of vaccine so far.
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Israel and the United Arab Emirates are among other countries far ahead of the United States and the European Union with the launch of vaccination, according to the Oxford University global vaccination tracker website.
More than 2 million people worldwide have died of coronavirus so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Reuters contributed to this report.
