The University of Oxford is to launch the first study to assess the safety and immune responses in children and young adults of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine.
The university said that previous trials of vaccine, which is being produced by AstraZeneca, have shown that it is safe, produces strong immune system responses and has high efficacy in all adults.
It added that the latest trial will assess if children and young adults aged 6-17 years make a good immune response with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine.
This new trial, a single-blind, randomised phase II trial, will enroll 300 volunteers, with up to 240 of these volunteers receiving the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and the remainder a control meningitis vaccine, which has been shown to be safe in children but is expected to produce similar reactions, such as a sore arm.
Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, and Chief Investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said: ‘While most children are relatively unaffected by coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell with the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people as some children may benefit from vaccination.
‘These new trials will extend our understanding of control of SARS-CoV2 to younger age groups,’ he added.
Other pharmaceutical companies are also conducting trials to assess the efficiency of their vaccine on children.
Pfizer started testing its vaccine jab in children as young as 12 in October while Moderna in December began testing its vaccine on children of the same age group.
