Nature: COVID-19 vaccine and children: five questions at the beginning of the trial

Parents strongly urge their children to participate in the first COVID-19 vaccine trial for young children .

Do we even need to vaccinate children ?

Severe COVID-19 is rare in children, and death from the disease is even rarer.

How will experiments on children work ?

In some respects, vaccine trials for children under 12 years of age will be a repeat of early adult trials.

Will children and adults respond differently to the COVID-19 vaccine ?

Donna Farber, an immunologist at Columbia University in New York City, said that children’s immune systems are full of cells from unseen pathogens, so they tend to have a strong immune response to vaccines.

How do scientists know if the vaccine is effective for children ?

We know that vaccines can prevent adults from contracting COVID-19, because clinical trials are designed to prove this.

How do researchers know if the vaccine is safe for young children ?

In clinical trials involving children, safety is of the utmost importance, and researchers know that COVID-19 vaccine trials for children will be subject to additional scrutiny.

Original source

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