The CoronaVac vaccine, produced in Brazil by the Butantan Institute, is safe for children and adolescents, with no major side effects, according to the preliminary results of a phase 3 double-blind clinical trial involving 2,140 participants aged 3–17 currently being conducted in South Africa, Chile, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The data were presented in November by Sinovac, the Chinese company that developed the vaccine, but have not yet been published in a scientific journal. In phase 1 trials with 72 participants and phase 2 trials with 240, both carried out in China, CoronaVac was well tolerated and induced antibody production, showing a better response with two doses of 3 micrograms (μg) each (Lancet Infectious Diseases, June 28). The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was also shown to be safe in a phase 1 trial carried out in four US cities, involving 50 children aged 5–11. The phase 2 trial, which involved 2,316 children of the same age group in four countries, indicated high levels of antibody production after two 10 μg doses (The New England Journal of Medicine, November 9).
RepublishCOVID-19
Two vaccines safe for children
Child receives COVID-19 vaccine in Tianjin, China, in early November
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