A pair of 9-year-old twin girls were immunized with Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine March 24, becoming the first participants in the drugmaker's new trial testing its shot in children as young as 6 months, The New York Times reported.
The trial will test three doses (10, 20 and 30 micrograms) of the vaccine in 144 children. For each dose, testing will begin in children between ages 5 and 11, then in children between ages 2 and 4 and finally in children between ages 6 months and 2 years old.
After the most effective dose is identified, Pfizer will enroll 4,500 children in the trial. Two-thirds of them will receive two doses of the vaccine 21 days apart, and one-third will receive two placebo shots of saline.
Researchers will analyze the immune response in blood samples drawn from trial participants seven days after they receive their second dose.
Pfizer expects results from the trial in the second half of 2021 and hopes to vaccinate young children in early 2022, spokesperson Sharon Castillo told the Times.
The drugmaker began testing its vaccine in children ages 12 and older, and results for that trial are expected to emerge in coming weeks, according to the Times.
Moderna and AstraZeneca have also begun trials assessing their COVID-19 vaccines' safety and efficacy in children as young as 6 months.
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