If herd immunity against the coronavirus is achieved, Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago could play a big role.
The hospital is inviting parents to volunteer their children for vaccine studies. The hospital said so far more than 9,000 children are registered.
“We hope that our trial will help contribute to slowing down and ending the pandemic,” said pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent.
According to Heald-Sargent, the trial may start within a month and the first children to be vaccinated will be between the ages of 6 and 12.
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“Give them a lower vaccine than the adults got. Make sure that dose is safe in them and then start testing on younger and younger children, and if we need to get a slightly higher dose, say more so than what the adults got, then we can go up a dose,” Heald-Sargent said. "But first we always start with the safest possible scenario."
On Tuesday, Moderna announced it is now testing kids under 12 as part of a study.
“In order to get what people are [calling] herd immunity, in order to get enough protection as a community, as a whole population, we need to include the kids in vaccines,” Heald-Sargent said.
