What does it mean that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trial is complete for children 12-15 years of age? | The State
Pfizer completed its trial of the COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 12 to 15.
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JACK GUEZ / AFP / Getty Images
Pfizer has reported that it completed the trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 12 to 15. This is a key step before the vaccine can be used in younger age groups.
The study seeks to support the authorization of emergency use of the vaccine in people 16 years of age and older and 2,259 children between the ages of 12 and 15 have been enrolled, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The vaccine, developed with its German partner BioNTech, was authorized for people 16 and older in December. Trials in younger age groups are necessary to ensure the correct dose, as well as the safety and efficacy in those different groupssaid Dr. Evan Anderson, a pediatrician at Emory University School of Medicine.
Although children are less affected by Covid-19 than adults, they continue to contract the virus and become ill. Some have even died. As of January 14, more than 2.5 million cases of COVID-19 in children, about 13% of all cases, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
If children return to class, they could continue to become ill and die if they continue to be exposed to the virus. Minors can suffer from a disease called multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 that could generate weakness, according to medical experts.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that they have been recorded 1,659 cases of the MIS-C syndrome and 26 deaths associated with it until January 8 of this year.
CDC data indicates that there have been 78 deaths from COVID-19 in children under the age of 4 and 178 in children ages 5 to 17.
Until now it is unknown when Pfizer will have the trial results to compare the rates of the group that received placebo medications with those that received the vaccine.
Recruitment for trials in the adolescent group has been slower than expected for the case of the vaccine Modern which was authorized for adults in December, while Pfizer began his trials with adolescents from the month of October. Modern expects outcome data for children 12 and older will be available by September.
AstraZeneca is in the final phase of trials in the United States and is already licensed in the United Kingdom that plans to continue a new protocol for children between 5 and 18 years of age over the next few months.
Johnson & Johnson is also awaiting the results of phase three in adults and is barely in discussions with regulators about including pediatric populations. The same technology that is being used for the COVID-19 vaccine has been used in vaccines administered to more than 200,000 people including those over 65, children, adults, infants, HIV-positive people and pregnant women.
Vaccine trials are generally conducted in younger age groups after safety and efficacy have been demonstrated in older age groups. Manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines have indicated that they will follow that plan in this case as well.
Based on the opinion of Angela Rasmussen, virology and affiliate of the Georgetown Center for Science and Global Health Security, wrote in The Guardian that “it is important that all children are vaccinated and manufacturers are able to do those trials quickly enough. The more people of any age get vaccinated, the better.
Related: How much money could Pfizer and Moderna get from selling COVID-19 vaccines?
The doctor. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said during a CNBC interview that he hopes 75-80 percent of the U.S. population can be vaccinated by the fall “So that life can return to normal.”
About 78 percent of the population is equivalent to 255 million people who are over 18 years old, the other 25 million are between 12 and 17 years old.
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