Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Data for Young Children Unavailable Until 2022, CEO Says

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Jan 13, 2021 03:39 AM EST

(Photo : Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trial data for young children is not expected until 2022, CEO Stephane Bancel said Monday.

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use in people who are 18 years old and older. However, testing the shot in young children will be a different story since their immune systems respond differently to adults.

Presently, Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trials still need to be completed, a report from CNBC said. While the company has already started studying the vaccine's effects on adolescents as young as 12 years old, it has yet to look at the vaccine's effects on young children ages one to 11.

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Study for Young Children to Start 'Soon'

The adolescents' study is expected to conclude by the time the fall semester starts in September, while the study for young children will start "soon," said Bancel at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, where he presented the company's projections.

However, he noted that the process of arriving data might "take much longer," reported Business Insider.

Bancel said the process has to be slowed down since Moderna will have to "age de-escalate and start at a lower dose," as he stressed that people shouldn't expect data this year.

In a November 2020 interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box," he said the key in studying the children's vaccines was to go "very slowly," and start at a lower dose to make sure it's safe for the involved children.

Just like the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, Moderna uses messenger RNA or mRNA in developing a shot. It is a new approach to the vaccine that uses genetic material to trigger a person's body into an immune response.

So far, Moderna has seen the vaccine's consistency across age, race, and gender during the late-stage trials involving adults.

Young children are unlikely to get their first vaccine shot in the coming months as medical experts continue to advocate that healthcare workers come first in the vaccination efforts, followed by vulnerable Americans and essential workers.

Children and young adults showed less risk of severe COVID-19, so they're expected to be at the bottom of the vaccination priority list.

Bancel also reported the company's plans to produce 600 million to 1 billion vaccine doses this year and 1.2 billion doses next year.

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Trial for Adolescents Struggles in Finding Volunteers

At Moderna's best bet for their study on adolescents, enough middle school and high school children will be vaccinated before they go back to in-person classes. However, it is struggling to get older children to participate in their study, a top health official confirmed with New York Post on Tuesday.

"It's a real challenge. It's been already four weeks ongoing," Operation Warp Speed advisor Dr. Moncef Slaoui said at a press conference .

Slaoui noted that only about 800 children signed up for the trials so far. At least 3,000 should participate in collecting enough data to study and recommend the vaccine for adolescents.

"We can't have that indication unless adolescents 12 to 18 decide to participate," Slaoui said.