US biotech firm Moderna said Monday its Covid vaccine was safe and produced a strong immune response in children aged 6-11, adding it would submit trial data to global regulators soon, AFP reports.
“We are encouraged by the immunogenicity and safety profile of mRNA-1273 in children aged 6 to under 12 years and are pleased that the study met its primary immunogenicity endpoints,” Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said in a statement.
An interim analysis from a mid-to-late stage clinical trial of 4,753 children showed that two doses of vaccine produced a high level of neutralizing antibodies — Y-shaped proteins that bind to the coronavirus and block it from entering human cells.
The vaccine was dosed at 50 micrograms, which is half of what is used among adults, but still produced on average 1.5 times as many antibodies in children as it did in young adults given the higher dose.
Read also
The majority of adverse events were mild or moderate, including fatigue, headache, fever, and injection site pain.
These early results, released via a press statement, do not yet include a vaccine efficacy estimate, which may be expected at a later time once cases have accrued.
