Sinovac Plans To Expand COVID-19 Vaccine Trials To Children And Adolescents

Sinovac Biotech has plans to expand the clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine trial to children and adolescents later this month.

What Happened: The Chinese vaccine maker hopes to carry out the study on 552 healthy participants ranging between the ages of three and 17, according to information the company filed with the National Library of Medicine.

The combined Phase 1 and Phase 2 trial will take place in China’s Hebei province and commence on Sept 28, the company said, as first noticed by Reuters.

The drugmaker said that the volunteers would be given two doses of the drugmaker’s CoronaVac vaccine or, alternatively, a placebo. 

The trial has already been approved by China’s regulator, a Sinovac spokesperson told Reuters. 

Why It Matters: A vaccine that works for the entire population is important because COVID-19 can spread to adults through schools and kindergartens, Reuters noted.

Pfizer Inc PFE and German partner BioNTech SE BNTX are seeking approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to expand their drug trial by including adolescents as young as 16-year old.

Pfizer and Moderna Inc MRNA vaccines are likely to be distributed to health care workers and high-risk groups in late October or early November, according to the New York Times.

Oxford University said that its partner AstraZeneca Plc’s AZN COVID-19 vaccine wasn't the likely cause of neurological symptoms such as weakness in limbs in late-stage trial participants.

The British drugmaker has resumed late-stage trials in the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, and South Africa after they were halted due to a reported adverse event earlier.