Moderna Begins Vaccine Trials on Children
U.S. manufacturer Moderna on Tuesday said it has started COVID-19 vaccine trials for children aged from 6 months to under 12 years old.
Stephane Bancel is the CEO of Moderna. On 16th March, she said that they were pleased to begin the study of phase two, out of three phases, which will study the effect of Moderna’s covid vaccine on healthy children in the USA and Canada. This study among children will help them to assess the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine among the youngsters. The vaccine will be used on children from 6 months old, to below 12 years of age. This study will have about 6750 participants. The US health authorities have said that children have fewer chances of getting infected with covid, as compared to adults. However, if children are infected, they can spread the virus quickly and easily as they aren’t able to follow covid norms strictly. It is also difficult to detect covid in children without a test. Most of the children infected with covid, are asymptomatic. In the US, school officials are under pressure to fully reopen schools as soon as possible. However, many say that it won’t be easy to follow social distancing, with the opening of schools. Moderna has said that 17.8 million adults in the US have received their vaccine. The Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have all been authorized for emergency use, and the companies are ready to deliver more than enough vaccines to cover the entire US population, by the middle of this year.
