Clinical trials are underway now for COVID-19 vaccines for children, and Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers during a hearing with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week a vaccine will hopefully be available for adolescents by this fall and for younger children by early 2022. Here’s a status update on vaccine clinical trials:
- Pfizer finished enrolling participants in its study of 12- to 15-year-olds and anticipates having data soon. They’re also close to finalizing their study with 5- to 11-year-olds. When the trials are complete, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will have to review the data and provide authorization before the vaccine can be used in those age groups. The Pfizer vaccine is now approved only for those ages 16 and up in the U.S., but Pfizer hopes to have the vaccine available to children ages 5 and up by early 2022.
- Moderna is still enrolling participants in its vaccine trial for adolescents ages 12 to 18, and hopes to provide data sometime this summer. Moderna has also started trial enrollment for kids ages 6 months to less than 12 years old, but the company doesn’t expect clinical data until 2022.
- Johnson & Johnson plans to soon begin testing its vaccine in adolescents ages 12 to 18 and hopes to quickly expand the trial to younger children and pregnant women.
- The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca are testing their vaccine in U.K. children ages 6 to 17 in a phase II trial that began in February. A larger trial involving thousands of children is expected to follow in the U.S.
Why is it important to vaccinate kids against COVID-19? The CDC estimates about 2.2 million, or 11%, of the country’s COVID-19 cases have been in children under 18. Children can contract the virus and can spread it. Although some studies suggest young children are slightly less likely to become infected or to transmit the virus, this is uncertain. What is clear is that teenagers are much more like adults in terms of becoming infected and transmitting the virus. Teenagers are more likely than young children to become seriously ill, but less likely than older adults. Although most young children are asymptomatic or have mild illness, some get very ill.
As of February 8, the CDC has tracked more than 2,000 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a serious condition associated with COVID-19 that can result in cardiac dysfunction and kidney injury. Some of these patients have experienced long-term side effects of the illness, including Maddie Dayton, who is still experiencing lingering symptoms—including chronic fatigue and shortness of breath—months after being treated for MIS-C at Primary Children’s Hospital. Her story was recently featured in the Washington Post.
Some children also experience long-term symptoms of COVID-19, similar to what’s been called “long COVID” in adults, including troubling fatigue, shortness of breath, and problems concentrating.
“Children need to be protected from the short- and long-term consequences of COVID-19,” says Andrew Pavia, MD, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah and Primary Children’s Hospital. “This is especially true for teenagers. Just because the proportion of children who die is much lower than among adults, they’re still seriously impacted by the virus. The long-term symptoms may end up having the most important impact on many young people.”
The prospect of vaccines for children is exciting, Dr. Pavia says. “Not only will vaccines allow kids to go back to a much more normal life, they will greatly improve our ability to control the pandemic,” he says. “If the virus can spread unchecked in children, it can evolve and spread to more vulnerable people. Without vaccinating children and teenagers, it will be very hard to ultimately end the pandemic.”