COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than 12 years: are we ready?
Authors: X Zou, B Cao
Published in: The Lancet Infectious Diseases
Introduction
On May 5, 2021, Canada became the first country in the world to approve COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children aged 12–15 years; later the same month, the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency also gave the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents.1 Children younger than 12 years are the next population who need a safe and efficient COVID-19 vaccine. In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Bihua Han and colleagues reported the results of a double-blind, randomised, controlled, phase 1/2 clinical trial, which showed that the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (CoronaVac) had good safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity in youths aged 3–17 years.2 This promising result should inspire the ongoing trial of other COVID-19 vaccines in children younger than 12 years.
