The United States, amongst other countries, has been in the process of mass vaccinations for several months now.  With a little over a quarter of the population having received their first dose of the vaccine, the country is now on track to ensure all adults are eligible for the vaccine by early summer.  However, one population, across the globe, isn’t likely to get a vaccine this year.  As of right now, all three available vaccines within the United States require a minimum age of 16 to 18 years - depending on the brand - for eligibility.  This means that children and many teenagers are currently unable to receive the vaccine.

Originally, “kids weren’t involved in the original adult clinical trials because the data tells us that severe illness from COVID-19 tends to happen to adults (especially in older adults).”  While children are not immune to the virus, they are a lot less likely to experience major complications or die because of it.  As a result, when companies like Pfizer and Moderna were hurrying to find a viable vaccine, they were more focused on testing its viability in older adults as they are the most at risk group.  However, this isn’t the only reason for the delay in a vaccine for children. Biotech companies decided to move forward with adult clinical trials first because, not only are they currently the most vulnerable group, clinical trials with children take significantly longer due to rules and regulations.  One example of this is that, “the child and both parents typically have to agree to participate in the trial or study,” whereas, for adults, you only need the consent of the one person participating in the study.  Additionally, “immune systems in kids can vary greatly depending on age… Because of this, additional data and research is needed when evaluating a vaccine for kids.”

Luckily, as of March 19th, “Pfizer finished a clinical trial for children 12-15 years old and will soon start trials for younger ages.  Moderna recently began vaccine studies for children 6 months to 11 years old and another for ages 12 to 17. Johnson & Johnson plans to start similar trials soon.”  Clinical trials focusing on children must be broken down even further into different age groups because the immune systems of young children are constantly changing and thus immune responses vary depending on the age of the child. 

There are several ways biotech companies can conduct their research and trials for children. Unfortunately, one option is to wait until there are enough cases in the population you are testing.  However, this option isn’t the most practical because it requires more kids to contract the coronavirus, which becomes dangerous for the rest of the population and isn’t likely to happen soon with more and more adults being vaccinated every day.  The other option for biotech companies would be, “to look at an immune correlate, which would be, do the children make the same antibody levels as adults? And is that good enough to assure that there could be protection?”  Ultimately, the decision as to whether an immune correlate is a good enough determination of vaccine viability in children falls to the FDA.  

With Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson all currently running vaccine trials for children, there should be a vaccine for kids within the next year.  This is great news since, “children under 21 make up about 25% of the U.S. population.  If many of them get a vaccine, the chance of herd immunity goes up.”  Hopefully by the end of 2022, the vast majority of kids and adults in the United States, as well as internationally, will be fully vaccinated and life can begin to resemble normalcy. 

References:

Benisek, Alexandra. “COVID-19 Vaccines and Kids: What to Know.” WebMD, WebMD, 19 Mar. 2021, www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccines-kids-what-to-know#1. 

hollowc2. “Why a COVID-19 Vaccine for Children May Take Longer.” Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic, Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic, 12 Feb. 2021, health.clevelandclinic.org/why-a-covid-19-vaccine-for-children-may-take-awhile/. 

NPR. “How the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials in Children Are Going to Work.” NPR.org, NPR, 19 Mar. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/19/979340096/how-the-covid-19-trials-in-children-are-going-to-work. Accessed 23 Mar. 2021.