Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine starts testing in young children

Pfizer is now testing its COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 6 months to 11 years, the company reported Thursday. Children appear to be less vulnerable to infection than adults, with the American Academy of Pediatrics estimating that they account for just 13% of all cases nationwide. While the U.S. vaccination campaign has largely targeted older adults who are at greater risk, doctors and public health experts emphasize the importance of also immunizing younger populations. Doing so protects children, they explain, but is also critical for combating coronavirus on a broader level. “If you really want to vaccinate somewhere between 70% to 89% of the population to achieve herd immunity, neglecting a large component of the population isn’t the right thing to do,” says Emmanuel Walter, chief medical officer at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute in Durham, NC, which plans to enroll as many as 4,644 U.S. and European children in the new study. Pfizer, which was already testing its vaccine in children aged 12–15 years, expects preliminary results from its youngest trial participants by the end of this year.