COVID-19 vaccines could soon be approved for some children under the age of 16, and two teenage siblings from Massachusetts took part in those trials.Zoe Campbell, 15, and Esme Campbell, 13, participated in Cambridge-based Moderna s child COVID-19 vaccine trials back in March, and Esme was just 12 when she participated. I thought it would be really cool if I could be one of the people contributing to making the vaccine available for kids, Esme Campbell said. I was just really excited because with the pandemic, a lot has felt out of my control, and I ve been looking forward to the vaccine for about a year now, Zoe Campbell said.The girls father, Dr. Justin Campbell of South Shore Health, says he and his wife, Dr. Lucy Chie of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, did their research on the COVID-19 vaccine and that they all made a decision as a family. We didn t want to force our kids into doing it, Dr. Campbell said. We did feel like it was very likely safe. The Pfizer COVID
Children Volunteer To Test The Safety Of The COVID Vaccine
Testing The COVID Vaccine On Children
Protecting children from COVID and getting to herd immunity will depend on children getting vaccinated. But the existing vaccines aren’t designed for most kids. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson s vaccines can only be given to those 18 and older, and Pfizer’s vaccine can only be given to people ages 16 and older. That’s why volunteers like 15-year-old Zoe Campbell and her 12-year-old sister Esme are testing the safety of Moderna’s vaccine for children in a trial at UMass Medical School in Worcester.
“The vaccine has been something we ve been looking forward to since last year. And with the pandemic, a lot of things feel out of our control. So to be part of that process of making the vaccine available for kids I thought was really, really cool,” said Zoe.