SASKATOON -- Duke University in the U.S. is testing Pfizer-BioNTech鈥檚 coronavirus vaccine on approximately 2,000 children between the ages of 12 and 15 years old, including Caleb Chung, the teenage son of a doctor.
鈥淚 definitely wanted to be part of it in order to show that the vaccines are safe for children and progress the development of the vaccine for young people,鈥 Chung told 麻豆影视 Channel during a joint interview with his father from North Carolina on Wednesday. He said getting the vaccine gives people 鈥渁n extra layer of protection.鈥
Chung is hopeful the trial will help bring the global population one step closer to achieving herd immunity 鈥 which is when most of a group becomes immune to an infectious disease, thereby providing .
Chung doesn鈥檛 actually know if he鈥檚 indeed been vaccinated, as he鈥檚 part of a 鈥渄ouble-blind鈥 vaccine trial in which neither researchers nor the participants know who received a placebo or the vaccine.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping that I got the real vaccine,鈥 the 12-year old chuckled.
He noted after both the first and second shot- - which were administered at least three weeks apart -- he had some mild headaches, muscle pains around the injection site, and some fatigue, all , according to U.S.鈥檚 Centres of Disease Control and Prevention.
Children made up at least one in 11 of all reported U.S. coronavirus cases, .
Although COVID-19 cases are milder and , data suggests trends in new cases in the U.S. . It should also be noted that, between May and September, the average weekly incidence of COVID-19 was twice as high among children aged between 12 and 17 years old, compared with those aged 5 to 11, according to research .
Before agreeing in December to be part of the university鈥檚 research, Chung admits he was 鈥渁 little hesitant at first because I didn鈥檛 know much about these kinds of trials.鈥
So he spent a couple of days of familiarizing himself with the requirements of the trial, reading over the informed consent documents, and familiarizing himself with then-recently released data demonstrating the vaccines鈥 effectiveness in adults.
Before vaccines are approved by government regulatory bodies, such as Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, drugmakers have to demonstrate both efficacy and safety in vaccine trials. But the majority of the trials done so far have been in adults, so data is more sparse when it comes to their efficacy on participants 18 years old or younger.
Chung鈥檚 decision hits close to home for his father and pediatrician Dr. Richard Chung who told 麻豆影视 Channel, 鈥淚 had the great fortune of actually working alongside the doctors who are overseeing the trial here in North Carolina.鈥
As part of his profession as director of adolescent medicine at the Duke University Health System, Dr. Chung works with teenagers and believes 鈥渢hey can and should make decisions and really participate in these things.鈥
So he was instrumental in bringing home information on the trials and informed consent papers for his son to read through and find out if he鈥檇 be interested in being a vaccine participant.
Although 鈥淐aleb is pretty into science,鈥 his father said he was 鈥渄efinitely cautious about not pressuring or coaxing him too much.鈥 He noted trials like this one will greatly help researchers gather more data on the vaccine鈥檚 efficacy in young people.
鈥淭hey actually need kids to participate. You can have all the resources [and] the most brilliant scientists but if you don鈥檛 have participants who are brave and courageous in this way, the trials can鈥檛 work,鈥 Chung said. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 definitely proud of him and the other participants.鈥
