Tests are being conducted currently for a COVID-19 vaccine for children.
Ochsner Health and Pfizer are enrolling children 12-to-17 in the trial of the same vaccine that will go before the FDA for emergency approval for use.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, both vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer are involved in finding young test subjects for trials with Louisiana one of 24 sites across the country.
“Children themselves are at very low risk, Dr. William Lennarz, Chairman of Ochsner pediatric network told the paper. “However everyone they come in contact with is certainly susceptible to getting the infection from children just the way they are from adults.”
Just like with adults, children enrolled in the Pfizer test will receive two shots of vaccine a number of days apart at Ochsner Jefferson Highway location.
The trial is scheduled to run for the next two years.
Data collection to show safety and efficacy of the vaccine should be gathered by June 2021 for the over 12 group.
Unlike traditional vaccines that contain weakened or dead versions of the virus, the Pfizer vaccine contains mRNA with a code telling the body to make the spike protein like the real coronavirus. This will spark the body to produce antibodies that to fight the real coronavirus from attaching and infecting a patient.
