Stanford Medicine on Wednesday administered shots to children aged 2 to 5 in a trial for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, which is another step forward in getting younger children vaccinated.
Stanford’s trial is part of a larger, nationwide Pfizer study testing the vaccine in children as young as six months old. Promoting pediatric vaccine trials is important because although children are at lower risk than adults of developing serious diseases and dying from COVID-19, many have nevertheless become ill and died. It is also critical to vaccinate children to achieve higher levels of immunity in the general population, as they can spread the virus to others, even if they do not become ill.
“We need to make sure that children are protected,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease expert for children leading the trial at Stanford, said. “More than 3 million children have been infected, thousands in hospital and nearly 300 deaths. Although it is not the deaths of half a million adults that we have seen, we have seen an impact on children and we want to make sure they are protected. And they can pass on to others, so we want to make sure they can protect the community as well. ”
About 3.5 million children in the United States are infected with COVID-19, which represents about 13.5% of all U.S. cases, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. And 347 children died, representing less than 1% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths.
Coronavirus vaccines are tested according to age, authorized and rolled out in descending order. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine can be given to people as young as 16, and the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines can be given to people as young as 18 years. Younger groups are expected to come next, starting with adolescents and younger teens, followed by children, toddlers and babies as young as 6 months old.
Pfizer applied last week for authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its vaccination in young people aged 12 to 15 years, after clinical trials have shown that it is 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 symptoms in that age group. The FDA may approve it soon and vaccines can be administered to that age group by the summer. Locally, Kaiser Permanente was part of the trial by enrolling teens in Santa Clara as well as in Sacramento.
Results for Pfizer’s trial for people under 12 are expected in the second half of this year.
Stanford is one of five U.S. sites that enroll children in Pfizer pediatric trials for children under 5, and the only one on the West Coast. Stanford researchers on Wednesday gave one of their first shots to children in this age group to Eloise LaCour of Alameda, who is 3 years old.
Eloise’s parents, Angelica and Chris LaCour, said they enrolled their daughter at the trial to help protect her, as well as to promote the scientific understanding of the vaccine in children so that other children could be vaccinated soon. Angelica LaCour got the Pfizer vaccine herself and feels comfortable that her daughter is getting it too.
“We felt confident and happy and proud that we could continue and that she would be a part of this to make it happen for other families as well,” she said.
Modern also performs vaccination trials among those 12 to 17 years old, and in the 6 months to 11 years old. Johnson & Johnson studied the vaccine in the age group 12 to 17.
Maldonado expects to enroll several dozen children at the Stanford yard. Approximately 144 children nationwide are expected to participate. Stanford researchers are now in Phase 1-2 phase, looking at dosage and safety; younger children begin to receive a smaller dose than adults receive, and this may increase if the dose is well tolerated. Phase 3, which looks at the overall immune response, is expected to follow.
Catherine Ho is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ Kat_Ho