Children’s Hospital participates in Pfizer vaccine trial for children ages 5 through 11

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Children's Hospital Colorado is participating in the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial for children ages 5 through 11.

The study is intended, in part, to determine if the vaccine can produce an immune response against COVID-19 and if the vaccine is safe in children.

In May, all providers administering the Pfizer vaccine began vaccinating children ages 12 and up. Now, Pfizer is hoping to open up the vaccine to children as young as five.

“Children need a vaccine,” says Eric Simões, MD, pediatric infectious disease expert at Children’s Colorado and professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus. “The vaccine trials get us one step closer to protecting our children and our communities from COVID-19.”

Medical doctors are calling this the final frontier for the COVID vaccine. Pfizer's trial is focused on detecting the antibody response to the COVID-19 vaccine and verifying if a lower dose produces enough immunity for that 5-to-11 age group.

Children's Colorado said they've recruited and enrolled healthy children, ages 5 to less than 11 years of age. Each child in the trial will either receive the vaccine or a placebo in a 2:1 vaccine to placebo ratio.

The participants will receive two injections approximately three weeks apart. Then, over the course of two years, families will have scheduled follow-up study visits to be required to track any changes in their child's health in an electronic diary.

The hospital says the children were selected through a lottery system to ensure that the population demographic in the study reflects the population of the surrounding cities.

For more information on the study, click here.