A local mother said on Monday that she's comfortable with her 2-year-old being part of the Pfizer trial for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Cassie Swartout from Tierrasanta told NBC 7 that she did the research and studied the data.
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“I’m willing to put my daughter in the Pfizer trial because I think, so far, their data in every age group has been great," Swartout said.
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The Pfizer trial is for children between the ages of 6months and just under 5 years old. Swartwout said the phase her daughter is in is the last and safest phase.
"They’ve already done the part of the trial where they test out the different doses, and, right now, they’ve already selected the dose,” Swartout said.
Now, Swartout said, Pfizer is trying to determine if there are side-effects in a larger population. So far, her daughter has none, but she said she did not expect her to have any after one dose. Besides, she does not know if her daughter got the vaccine or a placebo.
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“I felt good about possibly getting her vaccinated a little earlier, even though, you know, it’s not guaranteed, she might be protected,” Swartout said.
“We're very interested in trying to immunize those children who are going to pre-school, who are going to kindergarten,” said Dr. Stephen Spector, who is a Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at UC San Diego.
Spector is working with UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital on trials for the Moderna vaccine in two groups: children who are 6 months to just under 2 years old; and children who are 2 years old to just under 6 years old.
Although most children do not get sick, they can spread it, Spector said.
“What we’re trying to do, as much as possible, is to decrease the circulation of this virus as much as possible,” Spector said, “because what we have learned is this virus keeps changing, and what we would like not to happen is that it mutates into a virus in which the vaccines are less effective or spread more efficiently than the delta strain.”
The Pfizer vaccine for childen could be available for emergency use by the end of January or February
Spector said the Moderna vaccines for children could be available for emergency use by April.
