MONTREAL -- A Montreal infectious diseases specialist is leading a new COVID-19 vaccine trial testing the Moderna vaccine on six-month-old to six-year-old children, the last and youngest group of kids to be eligible for vaccination in Canada.
The MUHC Vaccine Study Centre located in Pierrefonds, in western Montreal, just started vaccinating children in this age range last week and so far, 12 children have received the first shot, as part of Moderna’s KidCove clinical trial.
“It's going really well,” said the principal investigator Dr. Soren Gantt, from Sainte-Justine Hospital, because “there’s been a lot of interest.”
Families have primarily been recruited by word of mouth. The vaccine centre has also reached out to those who participated in vaccine trials before.
It is the only Moderna trial of its kind in Quebec. There is a
handful underway in other parts of Canada, and more than 80 in the United States.
“We anticipate enrolling more than 50 kids here in Montreal. The entire trial involves more than 12,000 kids in Canada in the U.S.,” Gantt said.
The injection contains the same Moderna mRNA Spikevax product that is already approved by Health Canada, but only a 25-microgram dose, compared to the 50 micrograms being considered by the regulator now for six- to 12-year-olds and far smaller than the 100-microgram dose already approved for teens and adults.
With one survey showing that in Quebec,
only about 60 per cent of parents of five- to 11-year-olds plan to get their kids vaccinated, it’s reasonable to assume that some parents might be hesitant to volunteer their baby for a vaccine study.
