The University of Oxford defends that some minors can “benefit” from being immunized despite being less affected by COVID-19. The English University of Oxford has begun this Saturday clinical trials to verify the efficacy in children between 6 and 17 years of age of the anti-covid vaccine that it has developed with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, in what is considered the first trials in the world in minors in that age group age. In a statement, the researchers explain that tests to determine the safety and immune response of children to the vaccine is known technically as ChAdOx1 Ncov-19 will be developed in centers in the cities of Oxford, London, Southampton, and Bristol.
For these trials, 300 volunteers will be recruited, of whom up to 240 will receive the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine and the remainder a control meningitis vaccine. According to the University of Oxford, these are the first trials with young children of a vaccine against COVID-19, since until now only 16 and 17-year-olds have been tested, without it being authorized for public use at the moment no preparation. Oxford lead researcher and childhood immunity and infection expert Andrew Pollard said that while children appear to be less affected by the coronavirus and are not likely to become seriously ill, “it is important to establish safety and immune response” to the vaccine, as some minors may “benefit from being immunized.
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is, together with that of Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, one of the three that, at the moment, is administered in the United Kingdom, which aims to meet the objective of having vaccinated all four groups next Monday most vulnerable in society, some 15 million people. In previous studies with adults, the British preparation, which is also distributed in the European Union and will be offered at cost to developing countries, is 63% effective, inoculated in two doses separated by eight to 12 weeks, and its efficacy against new variants of the virus is currently being investigated.
