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(CNN) – Pfizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine is now being tested in the youngest age group, children up to 12 years old.
The move to testing coronavirus vaccine in younger children was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and institutional review committees earlier this month, but Pfizer split the children’s groups into teens over 16 years. and 17 years old and small children 12 to 15 years old.
WATCH: The experimental covid-19 vaccine will be tested on 12-year-olds
A team from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital finished vaccinating 100 children in the younger age group last week, said Dr. Robert Frenck, who is leading the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine trial. Half of the volunteers in this third and final phase of the Pfizer vaccine receive a placebo or a sham injection.
“Now we stop to observe the reactions to the vaccine. Right now we are on a planned hiatus to make sure everything is as safe as possible, ”Frenck told CNN.
Side effects that doctors see include lumps, redness or pain at the injection site, as well as fever or pain.
“I would ask other children to get the vaccine”
Abhinav, 12, is one of the child volunteers in clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine. The seventh-grade child, whose parents have demanded that only his name be used to protect his privacy, hopes that widespread vaccination will help his grandparents resume their visit from India and bring lessons back to normal at school.
“I think everyone in my school would like to get back to normal,” Abhinav told CNN. “I truly believe a vaccine can prevent the spread of infection. From now on, I’d probably ask other kids to get it.
The experimental vaccine is safe for children, Pfizer says
Frenck said people might be nervous about giving children an experimental coronavirus vaccine, but noted Pfizer has already been tested on tens of thousands of adults.
“The reason we can use this vaccine in children is that Pfizer has 30,000 adults enrolled and they have safety data on all of those people,” he said.
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Additionally, he said, it will be important to vaccinate children against the coronavirus if there is any hope of controlling the pandemic. They are almost certainly contributing to the silent spread of the virus.
“I think the important thing for people to remember is that while teens don’t get sick like the elderly, it doesn’t mean that some children don’t get sick and others don’t die,” Frenck said.
“So far, 120 children in the United States have died from covid.”
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