US biotech agency Novavax mentioned Monday it had began scientific trials of its proposed Covid-19 vaccine on kids, in a program that can contain as much as 3,000 adolescents aged 12-17. Far fewer kids have been sick with Covid-19 in comparison with adults, and most have gentle to no signs, however they are often contaminated and unfold the virus.
Novavax mentioned the trials would check “the efficacy (and) security” of the vaccine, with participants receiving either the vaccine candidate or placebo in two doses, 21 days apart. Participants will be monitored for up to two years after their injections.
The Novavax vaccine has not yet been authorized in any country, including for adults, but the company plans to file for emergency authorization in Britain “in the second quarter of 2021″, adopted by within the United States. Novavax introduced on the finish of January that scientific trials performed in Britain involving 15,000 adults confirmed 89.3 p.c efficacy.
The Novavax vaccine, which makes use of completely different know-how from the doses already broadly licensed around the globe, is a protein-based vaccine engineered from the genetic sequence of the primary pressure of the coronavirus.
It may be saved at a temperature between 2 and eight levels Celsius (35 – 46.4 levels Fahrenheit).
Other vaccine firms together with Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer are additionally conducting trials in adolescents.
Europe’s medicines watchdog mentioned Monday it had begun evaluating using Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, after an analogous request within the United States.
Vaccine authorization for kids is seen as a vital step in direction of attaining herd immunity.
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