Report: AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine To Be Tested on Children for the First Time

New research led by Oxford-AstraZeneca to assess how well their vaccine against coronavirus performs to children ages 6 to 17 is set later this February.

First to Test Children

On Saturday, the United Kingdoms' University of Oxford said in a statement that they are set to test the effect of the Covid-19 vaccine on children that they developed with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. This move makes them the first developer to test the coronavirus shot success in children and young adults between the ages of 6 and 17.

With more than 116,000 deaths, Britain has Europe's deadliest coronavirus epidemic so far worldwide. They are now in third national lockdown as officials seek to control new, more transmissible strains of viruses. Also, most schools are closed and the economy is down. These may address their national concern.

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Previous studies did not involve children younger than 12 before the Oxford-AstraZeneca trial. Three other firms and the only approved vaccines in the United States to date — Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen — have announced plans to launch trials this spring for younger kids.

U.S. regulators, on the other hand, are awaiting further trial results. Children are not expected to receive the vaccine on a widespread basis for months, and maybe not until 2022, even with clinical trials for younger patients are underway.

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AstraZeneca Vaccine Trial Details

The trial will determine the 'vaccine's safety and immune responses' and include 300 volunteers or participants. It will take place in three English towns: London, Southampton, and Bristol, with the injections to start later in February, they added.

Those who wish to take part must complete a short questionnaire. Those living near one of the four sites of study — the University of Oxford, St George's University Hospital, London, Southampton University Hospital, and Bristol Royal Children's Hospital — are encouraged to participate and are asked to sign up.

The trial's goal is to determine whether children between the ages of six and 17 can develop a robust immune response once jab induces. The vaccine is one of two that, along with the Pfizer-BioNTech thrust, are used to protect against serious illness and death from Covid in the U.K.

When the experiment is underway, as many as 240 children will receive the vaccine. The rest will receive a control meningitis jab.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca two-dose vaccine is also expected to be cheaper and simpler than other competitors to deliver. This year alone, AstraZeneca plans to manufacture 3 billion doses and has said it has many orders from countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.

Other than the plans for children's' vaccination, United Kingdom revealed earlier this month that they would be trialing combining vaccine shots. Patients will receive separate vaccines for their first and second doses: either an Oxford-AstraZeneca shot followed by a Pfizer and BioNTech injection, or vice versa.

As more than 14 million individuals from its population of around 66 million have received their first vaccine dose so far. 

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