Researchers from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom announced on the 13th that they will conduct a clinical trial of AstraZeneca's new crown vaccine on minors aged 6 to 17 to further evaluate the vaccine.
AstraZeneca's new crown vaccine was developed by the British-Swedish joint venture AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in cooperation with Oxford University. It has been approved for use in more than 50 countries and regions around the world. At this stage, it is only used for adults over 18 years of age.
Oxford University will recruit 300 volunteers between the ages of 6 and 17 to vaccinate them later this month.
Up to 240 of them will be vaccinated with AstraZeneca's new crown vaccine, and the rest will be vaccinated with a meningitis vaccine as a control group.
Andrew Pollard, a professor of pediatrics at Oxford University who is in charge of the clinical trial, said that although the probability of children contracting the new coronavirus and the proportion of severe illnesses are not large, "some children can still benefit from vaccination, so it is clear that the vaccine is right. The impact of the immune system in children and adolescents makes it very important to determine the safety of vaccines."
Currently, some other pharmaceutical companies are also launching new coronavirus vaccine trials for minors.
The Pfizer vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. of the United States and the German Biotech Company began clinical trials in the minor group in October last year. The minimum age of volunteers is 12 years.
Modena of the United States began clinical trials on adolescents over 12 in December last year.
(Wang Hongbin) [Xinhua News Agency Wei Feature]