Singapore — National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Duke-NUS Medical School researchers have begun recruiting children for an observational study on this age group’s immune response to Covid-19 vaccines.
On Friday (Dec 10), the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty paediatric vaccine for children aged five to 11, with inoculations scheduled to begin this month.
Following the announcement, researchers plan to study 460 children aged five to 16 for a period of 12 months to track their immune responses to the mRNA vaccine.
Researchers will study the vaccine’s efficacy, monitor side effects and detect asymptomatic Covid-19 infections among the children.
Children from the community who are healthy, have never been infected with Covid-19 and getting vaccinated for the first time will be recruited for the study, including those who are not immediately inoculated.
Meanwhile, immunocompromised patients who wish to be vaccinated will be recruited from the National University Hospital’s Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children’s Medical Institute, reported The Straits Times.
According to MOH, the results of phase 3 clinical trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is one-third the adult dose in children aged 5-11 years, has shown around a 90 per cent reduction in the risk of symptomatic infection.
Common side effects in children who received the vaccine were generally mild to moderate, with fewer systemic side effects compared to persons 16-25 years old, MOH added.
Thus, the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine outweigh the risks when used in a paediatric dosage, especially in the current situation of ongoing community and global transmission, said MOH.
Through the 12-month study, researchers aim to provide comprehensive recommendations on vaccinating children, as well as list out the effects of the natural infection of the virus in them.
Researchers also hope to confirm if there is a “hybrid vigour immunity” in children who get infected with Covid-19 and get vaccinated upon recovery, making them more resistant to reinfection in the process.
“We hope to obtain crucial data on how vaccinating our children will help protect them against Covid-19 and to better understand the risks and benefits, which will help us provide better care for this vulnerable group,” said a lead principal investigator from NUS Medicine, Assistant Professor Elizabeth Tham.
Interested participants can email [email protected] for more details. /TISG