Trials begin on pediatric COVID-19 vaccines
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Demaris Allen and her son, Emmit have already made up their minds; he will get a COVID-19 vaccine when they're approved for use in children.
"They trust science, they trust the research," Allen said of her children. "They trust their ability to look into, to weigh the risks."
Emmit is 14 and the results of Moderna's study on his age group will be ready by summer.
But the drug company is now enrolling 6,700 additional kids, six months old to 12 years, to ensure the vaccine is safe for them too.
The keys, says Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Allison Messina, are making sure children's still-undeveloped bodies absorb the drugs the way adults' bodies do. Pinpointing the right dose for smaller bodies with the fewest side effects is tricky.
MORE: Moderna begins testing 'next generation' COVID-19 vaccine with potential refrigeration storage
"As they go to younger and younger kids, they start with the best-tolerated dose in that adult group, and then they will kind of see if they do better at lower doses," Messina said.
In Florida, there have been six deaths in people under 15 and just under 1,000 hospitalizations; tiny fractions of the overall numbers.
But Dr. Messina says it's still critical to innoculate children because they can still spread it and high-risk children can get seriously ill or die.
"We are going to need children under 18 to be vaccinated because they are 25% of the population," said Dr. Messina, "so just for that herd immunity."
If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it's that contributions have to come from everyone, even the smallest, to stop it.
"We have done a lot of staying at home," said Allen. "A lot of that has been driven by them. They are concerned, they have seen friends who have gotten sick."
Moderna has not said how their studies in teenagers under 18 are going.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for vaccine trials to include children.
LINK: COVID-19 vaccine distribution information in Tampa Bay area counties
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