Moderna expands vaccine trials to young kids

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Vaccine manufacturer Moderna is beginning to test its COVID-19 vaccine on children from 6 months to 12 years old.

Moderna hopes to enroll more than 6,700 kids from the U.S. and Canada in the trial. The testing will be examining the safety, efficacy and proper dosage of the vaccine in young children. Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also have trials underway for older children.

While coronavirus has had a greater impact on adults, experts say it’s still important to develop a vaccine options for children.

“There are about 3.2, almost 3.3 million kids that have that have been tested positive for covid-19 as well with over 250 that have passed away,” Dr. William Hartman, UW Health’s principal investigator for its AstraZeneca vaccine clinical trial, told CBS 58. “So this is still a virus that can affect children which is why it is important to test the vaccine efficacy in children.”

Parents said they’ll be watching the trials closely.

“I would keep the option open like you said as long as everything is safe and pans out I wouldn’t have an issue with taking it under consideration,” Nick Pitts, a father of a nine-year-old said.

Another father expressed his comfortability. 

“I’d be comfortable with a vaccination, I’m vaccinated myself so I’d feel comfortable with the little one,” Shannon Robinson said. Robinson is the father of a one-year-old. “I’m putting a lot of faith in our physicians and the folks doing the testing, the developers that they’re taking adequate measures to make sure that safety is at hand.”