China’s Sinovac Biotech plans to begin a clinical trial of its experimental coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine with children and adolescents later this month.
According to a registry registry published Wednesday, 552 healthy participants ages three to 17 will take two doses of CoronaVac from Sinovac, which is traded in the US, OR a placebo in an estimated combined Phase 1 and Phase 2 trial It will start on September 28 in the North China Province. of Hebei.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the data so far suggests that the virus generally causes milder illness in children compared to adults, but some cases of children requiring intensive care have also been reported.
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Several hundred children were admitted to US hospitals with a rare but serious inflammatory syndrome, which could include symptoms such as fever, rashes and swollen glands associated with coronavirus disease.
The trial has already been approved by the Chinese regulator, a Sinovac spokesman said, according to Reuters. The injection from the Chinese vaccine maker is already in the final stage of adult study.
CoronaVac, which is being tested in large-scale, end-stage trials in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey, has already been administered to approximately 90% of the company’s employees and their families.
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China has inoculated at least tens of thousands of its citizens implementing experimental coronavirus vaccines despite concerns from experts about the safety of drugs that have not completed standard tests.
Sinovac said earlier this month that CoronaVac appeared to be safe and capable of inducing antibodies in older people, while antibody levels generated by the vaccine were slightly lower than those seen in younger adults, citing preliminary results from a trial of early to middle stage.
CanSino Biologics and China National Biotec Group have also started trials in countries such as Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Peru, Chile and Morocco.
According to Covid-19 data from Johns Hopkins University, there are more than 30 million cases of coronavirus disease worldwide and 944,887 people have succumbed to the viral illness.
(With contributions from the agency)
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