CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is looking for children to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials for kids 5 years old and younger.
The pediatric hospital is running 11 vaccine trials right now. Dr. Robert Frenck, the director of the Vaccine Research Center at Children’s Hospital, said they have two main vaccine trials geared toward younger children.
A Moderna trial for kids 2-5 years old is underway. Those children have received their first dose and will receive the second in mid-December before researchers check for an immune response and gather data in January.
For infant trials, Cincinnati Children's wants to enroll 30-50 kids ages 6-24 months. Dr. Frenck says parents have been great about wanting to enroll their children and they still have spots open. But with trials just beginning, Dr. Frenck estimates it's going to be awhile before we see FDA approval.
"My guess is the 2-to-5 year-old vaccine (isn't) going to be available before the end of spring and it may be even summer and around the same timeline for (kids) 6-to-24 months old,” Frenck said. "Hopefully COVID is going to be on the decline by then.
"Then the FDA will need to make a decision. Is there enough reason to extend the vaccine for the emergency use authorization versus saying, let's wait and do the usual pathway for full approval?”
