Kids Will Likely Be At The Back Of The Vaccine Line
With no clinical trials underway, a COVID-19 vaccine for children is unlikely before the fall of 2021. Other news stories report the latest on vaccine development by Sanofi, Merck and AstraZeneca.
The New York Times:
A Kid's Covid Vaccine Isn't Coming Anytime Soon
Parents, brace yourselves: You may be able to get a coronavirus vaccine by next summer, but your kids will have to wait longer — perhaps a lot longer. While a number of vaccines for adults are in advanced clinical trials, there are currently no trials in the United States to determine whether they’re safe and effective for children. (Nierenberg and Blum, 9/23)
Fox News:
When Will Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Begin In Children? Top Companies Weigh In
While four coronavirus vaccine candidates have now entered into late-stage clinical trials among adults, some may wonder when children will be enrolled. Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, for example, announced Wednesday it is moving ahead with a Phase 3 trial of a single-shot dose to treat the virus that causes COVID-19, enrolling 60,000 adults from diverse backgrounds, including significant representation from those that are over 60 years old, to test for efficacy. (Rivas, 9/23)
Stat:
Here Come The Tortoises: In The Race For A Covid-19 Vaccine, Slow Starters Could Still Win Out
The race is not always to the swift, as the cocky hare learned in Aesop’s classic fable, “The Hare and the Tortoise.” Those handicapping the so-called competition to develop Covid-19 vaccines would do well to keep an eye on the slower runners in this pursuit. (Branswell, 9/24)
Reuters:
AstraZeneca Still Waiting For FDA Decision To Resume U.S. Trial
AstraZeneca is still waiting for the go-ahead from the U.S. drug regulator to restart the clinical trial of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Thursday. “We are the sponsor of the U.S. study. We then provided all this information to the FDA (U.S. Federal Drug Administration) and we are waiting to hear their decision,” Soriot told a virtual World Economic Forum discussion. (Burger and Copley, 9/24)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Why Bay Area Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Was Halted Before It Ever Started
Bay Area researchers who had been poised to start enrolling patients in a coronavirus vaccine trial have suspended those plans after the vaccine developers and federal regulators halted the trial in the United States over safety concerns. Phase 3 trials for the vaccine, made by the drug company AstraZeneca and Oxford University — considered one of the front-runners in the race for a vaccine — were temporarily halted worldwide Sept. 6 after a participant in the United Kingdom developed a neurological illness. (Ho, 9/23)
Also —
Kaiser Health News:
These Secret Safety Panels Will Pick The COVID Vaccine Winners
Most Americans have never heard of Dr. Richard Whitley, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Yet as the coronavirus pandemic drags on and the public eagerly awaits a vaccine, he may well be among the most powerful people in the country. (Pradhan, 9/24)
ABC News:
Bioethicists Condemn DIY COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts
Across the country, a small handful of scientists are brewing up their own homemade and unproven COVID-19 vaccines and giving them to friends, family and themselves. These scientists hail from disparate groups. Some are shadowy and anonymous, while others are highly organized and Ivy-league affiliated. (Salzman, 9/24)
FiveThirtyEight:
How To Know When You Can Trust A COVID-19 Vaccine
Scientists around the world are currently undertaking one of the fastest vaccine-development programs in history, trying to get the novel coronavirus under control as quickly as humanly possible. But the vaccines being tested sit at a nexus of misinformation and mistrust. Between Trump’s apparent meddling in federal health agencies’ decision-making, skepticism about the seriousness of the disease, and long-standing culture wars around the safety of vaccines in general, it’s easy to find yourself floundering, unsure who you can trust. So I spoke with a handful of people who really know how vaccines, clinical trials and COVID-19 work to find out how to know when it’s a good idea to get the vaccine. (Koerth,9/23)
