NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt plans to start pediatric COVID-19 vaccine trials in March, hoping to study how to eventually distribute the shots to children.
"We've been working on these pediatric protocols for many months hoping to get to this point," Dr. Buddy Creech said. "When it comes to vaccines, children are not merely little adults. We really want to take our time to make sure that we're giving them the exact amount of vaccine that we need to."
The vaccines being studied are the same ones currently being rolled out across the country, but Creech said they want to learn more about what dosage is most effective for younger patients.
"We might need to change the amount of the volume that goes into the shot, or we might give a smaller dose because we don't need to give as much to the youngest of children," he explained. Creech hopes the study can help get children included into vaccine rollouts by the end of the year.
"We may be able to get a vaccine into children as early as this fall or winter, as we start going back into school in earnest," he said. "As we can see with out schools and we see with grandparents and grandchildren having to maintain some distance, we can see a path forward where vaccinating children, even though they haven't felt the brunt of this pandemic, could be very effective to moving us to a point where life goes back to normal."
Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt is currently looking for children to join the trial. If you are interested in enrolling your child, you can learn more at the Vanderbilt Research Program website.
