Oxford University extends COVID-19 vaccine study to children, some as young as 6

Oxford University is expanding its COVID-19 vaccine study to include children – some as young as 6.

Together with three partner sites in London, Southampton and Bristol, Oxford will launch the first study to learn how children and young adults (ages 6 to 17) respond to the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine.

Previous trials with the vaccine have shown it to be safe, but this Phase 2 trial – funded by the National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) and AstraZeneca – will show if children have a good immune response on the lap.

Oxford said in a press release that 300 volunteers would be enrolled for the study – 240 of them would receive the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and the rest a control meningitis vaccine, ‘which appears to be safe in children, but which is expected to elicit similar responses, such as a sore arm. ‘

“Although most children are relatively unaffected by the coronavirus and are unlikely to go bad with the infection, it is important to determine the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and adolescents, as some children may benefit from vaccination,” he said. Andrew Pollard, a professor of pediatric infection and immunity, and the lead researcher on the Oxford vaccine trial, said. “These new trials will extend our understanding of the control of SARS-CoV2 to younger age groups.”

The news comes as school districts nationwide are struggling with the reopening of schools due to the risks associated with the virus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profoundly negative impact on the education, social development and emotional well-being of children and adolescents, in addition to diseases and rare serious disease outbreaks. It is therefore important to collect data on safety and the immune response “to our coronavirus vaccine in these age groups so that they may benefit from admission to vaccination programs in the near future,” said Rinn Song, a pediatrician and clinician at the Oxford Vaccine Group.

Grace Li, a clinical research fellow for the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the trial would play a key role in protecting children from the virus.

According to the Oxford statement, the trial is set to begin on Saturday, and the first shots are expected to be fired sometime this month.