Moderna announces successful trial of COVID vaccine in children

Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine was generally safe and induced the desired immune responses in children ages 6 to 11 in a clinical trial, according to the company, Report informs referring to the Wall Street Journal.

The Cambridge, Mass., company said that it would submit the results to health regulators in the US, Europe and elsewhere in seeking authorization to widen the use of its shots to include this younger age group.

The company announced the interim data in a press release, and results haven’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Moderna’s vaccine is currently authorized for use in adults 18 years and older in the US.

The company’s efforts to expand use of its vaccine to include children are further behind Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, which could get FDA authorization in days or weeks for use of their vaccine in children 5 to 11.

“We are encouraged by the immunogenicity and safety profile of mRNA-1273 in children aged 6 to under 12 years and are pleased that the study met its primary immunogenicity endpoints,” Moderna Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel said. Immunogenicity refers to a vaccine’s ability to trigger an immune response, though it alone isn’t definitive proof that the immune response will protect someone from disease.

Moderna’s new study is part of a broader push to expand the Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign, which initially focused on immunizing adults, to include children.