Article Image

IPFS News Link • WTF?

Cincinnati Children's starts COVID-19 vaccine trials on adolescents

• Cincinnati Enquirer - Terry DeMio

A COVID-19 vaccine trial ongoing at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has started including adolescents.

On Wednesday, Cincinnati Children's began the new phase of its vaccine trial with a 16-year-old girl, who received either the immunization or a placebo, officials said Friday. 

"We are starting a COVID vaccine trial for children 12-17," said Dr. Robert Frenck, director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit and Gamble Program for Clinical Studies at Cincinnati Children's.

More teens, 16 and 17 years old, will be involved in the program beginning next week.

The center will be enrolling children of those ages, Frenck said, but a review board first must approval the vaccine trials for 12- to 15-year-olds.

Pfizer announced Monday that the FDA granted permission to extend the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials to children ages 12-15. Cincinnati Children's Institutional Review Board must grant approval before the medical center can begin immunizing kids of that age group. The board has a meeting Oct. 22 to consider the matter. Frenck, who is leading the trials, will recuse himself from the consideration.


Agorist Hosting