Oxford University has announced that it has started testing its coronavirus vaccine in children as young as 6 in a move that expands coronavirus vaccine trials to the under 18 years of age.
Building on previous trials of the vaccine, which have shown that it is safe, produces strong immune system responses and has high efficacy in all adults, this trial will assess if children and young adults aged 6-17 years make a good immune response with the vaccine.
Andrew Pollard, professor of paediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, and chief investigator on the trial, said: "While most children are relatively unaffected by coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell 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. These new trials will extend our understanding of control of Sars-Cov-2 to younger age groups."
Rinn Song, paediatrician and clinician-scientist at the Oxford Vaccine Group, said, "The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound negative impact on the education, social development and emotional well-being of children and adolescents, beyond illness and rare severe disease presentations. It is therefore important to collect data on the safety and the immune response to our coronavirus vaccine in these age groups, so that they could potentially benefit from inclusion in vaccination programmes in the near future."
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, had said "several" trials were already under way to develop vaccines for children and that it was "perfectly possible" some would be licensed by the end of the year."