Johnson & Johnson plans to test younger children later. (Representative)
New York:
Johnson & Johnson plans to start testing its investigational COVID-19 vaccine in young people aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible, a company executive said in a meeting held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) from the United States on Friday.
“We plan to treat children as soon as possible, but very carefully in terms of safety,” J&J’s Dr. Jerry Sadoff said at a virtual meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Depending on safety and other factors, the company plans to test even younger children afterwards, said Sadoff, a vaccine scientist at J&J’s Janssen unit.
J&J began testing the vaccine in adults in a phase III study of 60,000 volunteers at the end of September. He had to put the trial on hold earlier this month due to a serious medical event in one participant. The study resumed last week.
Rival drug maker Pfizer Inc has already started testing the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with BioNTech in Germany in children as young as 12.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
