race for a vaccine

COVID-19 Vaccine Trials for Children Underway at Stanford

NBC Universal, Inc.

The final phase COVID-19 vaccine trials are now underway for 5- to 11-year-olds at Stanford.

Many hope this will be the final hurdle in the race to reach herd immunity.

"It felt not that bad," Sofia Chavez, 6, said. "It felt just like a little pinch. Just a little pinch."

Dr. Yvonne Maldonado is leading the child vaccine trials at Stanford for 5- to 11-year-olds.

"These are what we call phase three trials, meaning this is the final dosing study to look for safety and effectiveness," she said. "That is, do the children make a good immune response?"

Maldonado hopes to have FDA approval for this age group by the fall, so the first dose can be available for children as school starts.

For the Chavez family, the trials mean a faster return to normalcy.

"No second thoughts, nope," Renee Chavez said. "We believe so much in science. We trust our pediatrician, and we talked to her before doing it."

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